U.S. Border Patrol agents found 11 illegal immigrants locked in a U-Haul truck on Oct. 1 east of Douglas, near the Arizona–Mexico border.
According to Breitbart, the immigrants were trapped in the locked cargo area.
Sabri Y. Dikman, Tuscon’s acting chief patrol agent posted an image of the immigrants on Twitter, including a small child. Border Patrol agents found the illegal immigrants during a stop in Arizona near the southern U.S. border.
Eleven migrants, to include a small child, were discovered in a U-Haul with no means of escape. Douglas Station #BorderPatrol agents foiled the smuggling attempt after stopping the vehicle east of Douglas, #AZ. The U.S. citizen driver will be prosecuted. #HonorFirst pic.twitter.com/JCnBSFazWp
— Sabri Y. Dikman (@USBPChiefTCA) October 1, 2021
Earlier this year, Border Patrol agents uncovered a human smuggling operation in Texas where 33 illegal immigrants were reported to be “close to perishing due to excessive heat” in a U-Haul truck.
“Had our heroic agents not been able to free these trapped undocumented migrants, we could have seen 33 miserable deaths in this event,” Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector Chief Sean McGoffin told KVIA. “Smugglers do not care what type of misery they put people through as they take their money.”
Arrests at the U.S.–Mexico border topped 200,000 in both July and August this year. Border agents apprehended 208,887 people in August, more than a four-fold increase from August 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
Nearly 65 percent of illegal immigrants caught in 2021 were single adults, while approximately 27 percent who were arrested were part of a family unit. About 8.6 percent of those apprehended were unaccompanied children.
The number of border arrests has risen for 16 straight months, starting during the Trump administration, after hitting a low of just 17,106 in April 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
By Tammy Hung
