26 immigrants smuggled across border found locked in frigid trailer, CA agents say
El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents found 26 immigrants, who they said were trying to cross the border illegally, locked in a tractor trailer in Salton City.
Agents stopped a 32-year-old truck driver at a checkpoint Thursday night and inspected the truck, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection release. They found 26 “undocumented immigrants” in the trailer.
“The undocumented immigrants were locked and trapped inside this tracker-trailer in below 45 degree weather with no safety restraints,” Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in the release. “This smuggling organization had no regard for the safety of the people they were smuggling. Fortunately, our agents were able to remove them from that potentially life threatening situation.”
All of the people were taken out of the trailer. Agents also looked at the driver’s license and determined that he was a Mexican national and the license was an “imposter document,” the release said.
