McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Texas Department of Public Safety troopers recently stopped a delivery truck and found 17 migrants crammed inside a false compartment built in the walls of the truck, the agency said Wednesday.
The Lowe’s truck was stopped on Aug. 30 in Kinney County, Texas, near the border town of Del Rio. Troopers stopped the driver due to expired tags, according to a video supplied to Border Report by DPS.
The agency said the driver consented to allow troopers inside the cargo hold.
DPS troopers are part of Texas’ Operation Lone Star border security initiative and not generally allowed to search inside vehicles. They can stop vehicles for faulty equipment, like brake lights, and for expired tags or registrations.
Once inside the cargo hold, video supplied by DPS shows a trooper questioning new wood paneling that appears to have been added to the walls. Multiple troopers aided by a National Guardsman pulled apart the walls and found 17 people in a small 3-foot compartment with no air ventilation, DPS says.
Several of the migrants “required medical treatment for dehydration,” DPS said.
A couple of women can be seen struggling to free themselves from the compartment as they slide on the floor.
The total number of people hidden in the compartment practically filled the inside of the Lowe’s delivery truck, according to video supplied by DPS.
The driver, Megel Cazanna Patterson, of Mississippi, was charged with smuggling persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death.
If convicted, under Texas law, the smuggling of persons into the state carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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