Border Patrol Agents Find Over 70 Illegal Immigrants Inside a Single Tractor-Trailer
Border Patrol agents busted a major illegal immigration operation on Monday, uncovering a tractor-trailer at the Texas-Mexico border carrying more than 70 illegal immigrants.
Agents working at a Border Patrol checkpoint in the Laredo sector conducted a routine inspection of a commercial tractor-trailer on Monday after it approached the area’s checkpoint. Upon inspection, agents discovered more than 70 illegal aliens sitting inside. The group, made up of both men and women, were Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Mexican nationals, according to a report from Customs and Border Protection.
Every one of the illegal immigrants was placed under arrest. The truck’s driver, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested. Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security, has taken over investigation of the case.
Agents noticed that all of the migrants inside the tractor-trailer were wearing “marked shirts.” The agency believes these markings were used to classify and identify the individuals, similar to the process of marking commodities and cargo that is transported.
Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said he was disturbed by the operation.
“When you see these pictures, I hope that you have the same level of disturbance that I did,” Morgan told reporters on Tuesday.
“Obviously, the investigation is still ongoing to definitively determine what that letter meant on their T-shirts, but preliminary reports suggest that alien smuggling organization’s moniker representing that they had responsibility for those individuals.”
The CBP chief also revealed that preliminary reports indicate that the smugglers also put the letters on the migrants’ bodies, as well.
“And it’s just disgusting to me. It’s another example of how the cartels — that’s who we should be attacking,” Morgan said. “That’s who we should be going after. That’s who we should be targeting.
“You’ve got a human smuggling organization that’s going to take a human being and spray paint a letter on their T-shirt and brand them like a piece of cattle and treat them no more than a money-making commodity. That’s horrible.”
Since the height of the border crisis in May, the situation has waned dramatically. Morgan said “catch and release” has now stopped for 95 percent of illegal immigrants, and daily border apprehensions currently hover around 1,400.”
Nevertheless, the CBP chief maintained that there is still a crisis at the southern border and pointed to smuggling cartels feeding migrants with lies about the realities of reaching the U.S. interior.
“When I go and talk about ending catch and release, and I talk about the migrants — they should stop listening to the smuggling organizations. They are lying to them. They should stop giving their life savings to these individuals,” Morgan said.
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