U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Falfurrias Checkpoint chased down a grain hauler and discovered 14 migrants inside. The driver refused to submit to a secondary inspection and attempted to evade the agents.
The Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) agents observed a grain hauler approaching the Falfurrias Checkpoint in Brooks County, about 80 miles north of the Mexican border with Texas. A K-9 agent alerted to something unusual about the truck. Agents directed the driver, a U.S. citizen, to move the truck to a secondary inspection station for further examination. Instead, the driver proceeded north, leaving the checkpoint, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Marlene Castro.
Agents pursued the truck, and the driver eventually stopped without incident. A search of the trailer by the agents revealed 14 illegal immigrants in the cargo area. The alleged human smuggler covered the immigrants with a tarp in an attempt to hide them from view. Castro did not provide information about the nationality of the 14 migrants.
Agents arrested the driver and seized the truck and trailer. He is being turned over to federal prosecutors where he will likely face charges of human smuggling.
Castro issued a warning to migrants about attempting to circumvent the Falfurrias Checkpoint. Many illegal immigrants lost their lives while trying to march around the inland station.
Breitbart Texas reported extensively about the deaths of migrants in Brooks County. In 2016, Border Patrol agents and Brooks County Sheriff’s Deputies recovered the bodies or remains of 61 people who died after being abandoned by their cartel-connected human smugglers.
“The treatment of these illegal immigrants by their human smugglers is horrific,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a prior interview. “The people they take on these marches around the checkpoint are ill-prepared for the heat and hazardous terrain of these ranches. When they can’t keep up, they are left behind where they will die quickly if they don’t get help.”
RGV Sector Chief Patrol Agents Manuel Padilla, Jr. agreed. “These heartless criminals take ruthless steps to exploit the multitude of poor immigrants from Mexico and Central America trying to reach the United States at any cost, and the problem is getting worse,” Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, Jr. said in a written statement obtained previously by Breitbart Texas. “No one wants to see their loved ones being violated or abandoned in this manner.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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