Smuggling tragedy strikes Texas

9 dead after left in truck, but border arrests are down

USA TODAY

Despite an apparent human smuggling operation that resulted in the gruesome deaths of nine people in a tractor-trailer in Texas over the weekend, the number of people apprehended for illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico remains sharply lower in recent months versus past years.

In June, 21,659 people were arrested or turned away at U.S. ports of entry along the Mexican border, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics. That’s slightly higher than May but less than half the number from June 2016. June marked the fifth consecutive month the numbers were markedly lower than in 2016.

Early Sunday, eight bodies were found in a truck sitting in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walmart. At least 30 more people in the truck were rushed to hospitals, many in critical condition. One of those died later Sunday, officials said.

The temperatures Saturday had exceeded 100 degrees, and the truck had no functioning air conditioning, authorities said.

“We’re looking at a human trafficking crime,” police Chief William McManus said.

The driver was arrested, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was leading the investigation.

“By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished,” ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said.

A federal immigration crackdown has meant an increase in arrests of undocumented immigrants already in country in recent months, but arrests along the border began their precipitous fall in February. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said that decline reflected a reduced flow of illegal immigrants across the border.

Kelly credited Trump’s executive orders such as those aimed at starting construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and expanding the powers of federal immigration officials to arrest undocumented immigrants. Courts have turned aside some of Trump’s orders, but the atmosphere alone created by the Trump administration’s policies could be curbing immigration enthusiasm.

“Since President Trump took office on Jan. 20, we have seen a dramatic drop in numbers,” Kelly said in March. He said the decrease was also encouraging because it meant “many fewer people are putting themselves and their families at risk of exploitation, assault and injury by human traffickers and the physical dangers of the treacherous journey north.”