At least 84 migrants were ‘rescued’ after a shocked resident spotted the group stepping out of tractor trailer in Texas near the border with Mexico.
The group was being unloaded from the 18-wheeler Thursday in front of a home in Olivarez, a community north of Weslaco.
Deputies from the Hidalgo Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived at the home, located approximately eight miles north of the United States borderline with Mexico.
Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra told CNN that all of the migrants are from Central America and did not require medical assistance.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and deputies from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office encountered Thursday 84 migrants after a resident saw them being unloaded from a tractor trailer in Olivarez, a Texas community located eight miles north of the United States border with Mexico
It’s unknown if the migrants who were seen coming out of the tractor trailer where smuggled directly in it from Mexico or if they were in another Texas town before they were found in front of a resident in the small town of Olivarez
He added that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had taken over the investigation.
A spokesperson for the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office told DailyMail.com that the migrants were taken in by the U.S. Border Patrol for processing.
It’s unknown if the group had been smuggled from Mexico directly on the truck or if they were being transported from another location.
‘We continue to address the serious public safety threat posed by human smuggling organizations and their reckless disregard for the health and safety of those smuggled,’ HSI said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
According to CBP data, U.S. Border Patrol agents reported 2.1 million encounters with migrants who illegally crossed the southwestern border in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022, spanned from October 1, 2021 to September 20, 2022.
The agency’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, which covers more than 34,000 square miles of southeast Texas, accounted for a little over 440,000 of the interdictions.
U.S. Border Patrol agents reported 2.1 million encounters with migrants who illegally crossed the southwestern border in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022
The 18-wheeler that was used to smuggle 84 migrants who were seen getting out of it in front of a home in Olivarez, Texas, on Thursday. The group is from Central American and was taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol for processing
The driver who abandoned the tractor trailer in the sweltering Texas heat that left 53 migrants dead, was ‘very high on meth’ when police arrested him
Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, drove the tractor trailer that was crammed with Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Honduran migrants before he abandoned it near San Antonio. A total of 53 people died in the smuggling incident
The finding comes three months after 53 migrants died when they were left trapped inside a tractor trailer on a remote road near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
According to Homeland Security Investigations, 48 individuals at the scene were found dead June 27.
The driver, Homero Zamorano Jr., and three other people were arrested in connection to the botched smuggling incident.
The 45-year-old, who faces one count of alien smuggling resulting in death, attempted to disguised himself as a migrant and was ‘very high on meth’ when he was apprehended as he hid in the brush.
Christian Martinez, 28, was arrested June 28 and charged with conspiring to transport illegal aliens resulting in death. Authorities said he had been in regular contact with Zamorano Jr. about the smuggling incident.
San Antonio Police chief William McManus told CNN at the time that the incident ‘was a crime against humanity.’
‘The floor of the trailer, it was completely covered in bodies. Completely covered in bodies,’ he added.
‘There were at least 10-plus bodies outside the trailer, because when we arrived, when EMS arrived, we were trying to find people who were still alive. So, we had to move bodies out of the trailer onto the ground.’
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