Mexican migrant discovered crammed INSIDE a seat in the back of an American teenage girl’s car during a search by border patrol officers as CBP slams people smuggling methods as ‘inhumane’
- Border Patrol officers at the Calexico, California, port of entry arrested a Mexican national hidden beneath a car seat and a U.S. citizen driving the vehicle
- Sunday morning’s arrest took place the officers ordered an 18-year-old female driver to pull over for an extensive car search
- The 48-year-old man was found lying under the rear car seat and processed for unlawful entry into the United States
- The teenage driver was arrested and taken to the Imperial County Jail to face criminal proceedings
- The U.S. Customs and Border Protection director has slammed the methods used by people smugglers as ‘inhumane’
A man was found hidden underneath a car seat when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents searched a vehicle crossing from Mexico.
The shocking finding took place early Sunday morning when an 18-year-old female U.S. citizen arrived at the Calexico West port of entry in California.
Border Patrol agents at the booth subjected the driver to an additional examination and used a police dog to screen the woman’s vehicle, CBP said in a statement.
A 48-year-old undocumented immigrant (pictured) from Mexico is busted by CBP while he was hiding under the rear seat of a car driven from Mexico to California by an 18-year-old female U.S. citizen Sunday
CBP agents were led by a search dog to the rear seat of a vehicle where a Mexican man was found hiding after
The 48-year-old Mexican national was discovered lying under the Mitsubishi’s rear seat.
The officers removed the man from the car and took him into a secure area for processing.
The driver was also taken into custody and transferred to Imperial County Jail to face criminal proceedings.
It is unknown if it was the Mexican man’s first unlawful entry attempt into the United States.
‘The primary focus of our national security mission is to protect the American homeland from all threats,’ said Pete Flores, the CBP Director of Field Operations for San Diego.
‘Although we routinely encounter individuals attempting to enter our country illegally, this incident serves as another example of the inhumane tactics human smugglers will utilize in order to circumvent our laws.’
CBP reported a slight rise in apprehensions [30,068] in the month of February along the southwest border following a decline in the arrests of undocumented migrants crossing the United States-Mexico border in the previous three months.
Immigration officials registered 33,517 apprehensions in November, 32,854 in December and 29,206 in January.