Texas man charged with smuggling 18 illegal immigrants in tractor-trailer

A Texas man faces federal smuggling charges for attempting to transport 18 illegal immigrants in a tractor-trailer truck from the Mexico border deeper into the United States, according to a local media report.

Border Patrol agents foiled a human smuggling effort in the southeast region of the Rio Grande Valley on Aug. 28 when the truck tried to pass through a federal immigration checkpoint on the highway.

A federal complaint viewed by MyRGV.com revealed that Border Patrol agents discovered 18 migrants from Mexico and Central America inside the back of the truck.

Agents at the checkpoint grew suspicious of the truck when the driver mumbled and acted nervous during the initial inspection.

The driver, Daniel Rodriguez, was ordered to pull over for a more thorough inspection but instead drove away from the checkpoint and continued driving north on Highway 77.

“BPA’s called out over the service radio that the tractor-trailer continued north and didn’t stop," the complaint stated. "[Border Patrol agents] got in a marked patrol vehicle in an attempt to locate the tractor.”

The truck was tracked down, pulled over, and returned to the checkpoint, where a canine alerted agents at the trailer's rear doors.

“When the trailer doors were opened, eighteen (18) subjects were discovered sitting on the floor with no cargo inside the trailer,” the complaint stated.

The migrants were identified as citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and El Salvador. It was not clear if the truck transported the migrants into the U.S. from Mexico or if it picked up the individuals after they walked into the country.

Rodriguez claimed not to have been aware of the people concealed inside his vehicle despite a conflicting statement from one migrant on board.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Once they were loaded into the trailer, one subject gave instructions on what to expect,” the complaint stated. “The subject told the aliens the driver was going to make 3 stops. The first stop was to put diesel in the tractor. The second stop, the driver was going to do a safety check on the tractor. The third stop was going to be when the tractor-trailer would stop and move a little bit and keep doing that repeatedly, which meant they would be at immigration, and the aliens were instructed not to move or make any noise.”

Fortunately, no one was injured or killed in the incident, as tractor-trailer smuggling events have historically been associated with heat exhaustion-related deaths.