Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 09 Feb 2022, 17: 04 pm EST
Border Patrol agents found overcrowded immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Ecuador, including two minors, in the trailer of a cargo truck in El Paso (Texas) and arrested two alleged human traffickers.
The Customs and Protection Office Border Agency (CBP) reported this Wednesday that it was a human smuggling operation that was foiled last Monday.
Some of the immigrants have already been expelled to Mexico in compliance with the Title 54, which allows for the expedited removal of aliens for reasons of public health.
This policy was activated in 2020 by then President Donald Trump in the midst of the COVID pandemic-42 and is maintained by the current mandate Rio, Joe Biden.
The other immigrants were transferred to a processing center, while the truck driver and a passenger will face charges of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants.
The federal agency indicated in a statement that the incident began last Sunday night when Border Patrol agents assigned to the Anti-Smuggling Unit (ASU) in the community of Ysleta received information about suspicious activities in an empty building.
Additional information received by the ASU in Santa Teresa also led agents to another location that was being used in the smuggling operation.
The agents stopped the cargo vehicle and discovered the 132 undocumented people crowded into the trailer ue.
According to CBP, all immigrants were reviewed and processed in accordance with immigration regulations.
“Human smugglers have no regard for the health and safety of the people they those that exploit for profit,” declared the head of the Border Patrol in the El Paso sector, Gloria Chávez.
Read more:
Why a law to protect undocumented immigrants proposed by a Republican in Congress could “be dead”
Undocumented immigrants would wear shackles and obey “curfew” with ICE plan in process
Government prepares plan pilot to monitor undocumented immigrants without locking them up in ICE detention centers