EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A truck driver is facing federal smuggling charges after U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled 13 migrants from the cab and flatbed of his semi.
The stop took place on New Mexico State Road 26 between Deming and Hatch, N.M., as border agents patrolling the area conducted an immigration stop on the truck just after midnight on June 26.
The driver stopped after the agents activated their flashing lights; the agents interviewed the trucker – an American citizen – and began their inspection of the vehicle. They found an individual hiding in the cab who turned out to be a foreign national with no permission to be in the country, the Border Patrol said in a statement to Border Report.
A more comprehensive sweep of the commercial vehicle revealed that 12 more migrants were squeezed in a compartment under the flatbed trailer, the agency said.
A photo released by El Paso Sector Interim Border Patrol Chief Walter N. Slosar shows the cramped conditions the migrants endured during the trip.
“Smugglers showed little regard fo human life – all for profit,” Slosar said.
The name of the driver and the nationalities of the migrants were not immediately released. The driver now faces charges of transportation of illegal aliens; the migrants are in removal proceedings, the agency said.
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