21 immigrants found inside a tractor-trailer
El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents at the Highway 86 immigration checkpoint arrested a man suspected of smuggling 21 undocumented immigrants Wednesday morning, a Customs and Border Protection news release stated.
The incident occurred approximately 9:15 a.m., when a man drove a tractor-trailer to the checkpoint.
While Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration check on the driver during primary inspection, a canine detection team alerted to the cargo area of the trailer.
The driver was referred to secondary inspection, where agents discovered the 21 immigrants locked inside the trailer with no safety restraints and no way to escape.
Agents safely removed all of the subjects and conducted welfare checks.
The 50-year-old truck driver presented agents with a Legal Permanent Resident card as his own.
However, that document was later determined to be falsified, the news release stated.
The driver was determined to be an undocumented immigrant from Mexico illegally present in the United States.
The driver and his passengers, who consisted of 16 adult men, four adult women and one unaccompanied juvenile boy, were placed under arrest.
The driver is being held in federal custody pending criminal charges.
The 21 immigrants were expeditiously expelled back to Mexico under Title 42 authority.
This incident is the fifth of its kind this year in the Imperial Valley, the news release stated.