Thursday at a border checkpoint in Texas, border patrol officials were investigating a car when they found three migrants trapped inside a toolbox.
The cruel smuggler had confined the migrants in the metal toolboxes and was carrying them in the stifling summer heat, according to El Paso Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez.
After a K-9 agent alerted them to the rear of the vehicle, agents conducted a secondary examination of a black Chevrolet Silverado with a New Mexico license plate and found the migrants there.
According to CBP, the US citizen truck driver admitted to the officers that he was carrying a pistol and some marijuana. He said that he lacked the keys to open the toolbox when the agents questioned him about what was inside. The migrants were discovered to be squeezed inside the toolbox with little air when agents detained the driver and forced open the toolbox’s padlocks.
LOCKED SMUGGLED MIGRANTS! A ruthless smuggler locked 3 migrants in metal toolboxes while transporting them in extreme summer heat. Thankful that #Ysleta checkpoint agents were vigilant, detected it, & saved human lives. Phenomenal work Ysleta! #HonorFirst pic.twitter.com/XjLBAOOAQd
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) July 1, 2022
After a K-9 agent alerted them to the rear of the vehicle, agents conducted a secondary examination of a black Chevrolet Silverado with a New Mexico license plate and found the migrants there.
According to CBP, the US citizen truck driver admitted to the officers that he was carrying a pistol and some marijuana. He said that he lacked the keys to open the toolbox when the agents questioned him about what was inside. The migrants were discovered to be squeezed inside the toolbox with little air when agents detained the driver and forced open the toolbox’s padlocks.
The migrants were all male citizens of Honduras, according to CBP. After a medical examination, it was determined that they were healthy.
The driver was taken into custody and accused of conspiring to transfer. What happened to the migrants after they were found is unknown.
Chavez stated, “Endangering human lives by using dangerous and despicable smuggling tactics is the modus operandi of transnational criminal organizations. Many times smuggled migrants are locked in confined spaces with restricted oxygen.”
On the outskirts of San Antonio, 53 migrants were discovered dead in an abandoned tractor-trailer just days before the tragedy.
