Southwest Texas – A recent human smuggling incident in rural southwest Texas has led to the arrest of a Mississippi man and the rescue of 17 migrants found hidden inside a cloned semi-tractor trailer bearing fraudulent markings of the popular Lowes home improvement chain. The discovery was made by troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, who were able to interrupt the smuggling event in Kinney County near Brackettville, Texas on Thursday as temperatures neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The driver of the truck is now facing enhanced charges for placing the migrants in danger. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety stated that troopers encountered the cloned Lowes semi-tractor trailer during a routine vehicle stop and discovered a total of 13 adult male and four adult female migrants inside the truck. Several of these individuals were found to be suffering from dehydration, numbness in their legs, and other symptoms consistent with being crammed into a three-foot-wide space within the trailer for an extended period.
As a result of this incident, multiple migrants required medical treatment upon discovery by law enforcement officers. The driver of the vehicle is likely to face enhanced state charges of human smuggling based on both the manner of transportation and the injuries sustained during the event. This case bears a chilling resemblance to a tragic smuggling event that occurred in June 2022 in San Antonio, Texas, where 53 migrants lost their lives after being discovered in a semi-tractor trailer.
In the earlier incident, 65 migrants were found inside a sweltering trailer by law enforcement officers near an industrial park outside the city of San Antonio. At that time, 48 migrants were discovered dead within the trailer while five others succumbed to their injuries at local hospitals in the days following the event. To date, four individuals have pleaded guilty for their involvement in this deadly smuggling operation, with Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, a Guatemalan national, being arrested last week in Guatemala in connection to the San Antonio tragedy.
According to the Department of Justice, Miranda is suspected of having trafficked 21 Guatemalan nationals as part of the deadly smuggling event that took place two years ago. The suspect allegedly charged between $12,000 and $15,000 for each person he smuggled into the United States. With the recent arrest of a Mississippi man in connection to the latest human trafficking case, law enforcement officials are urging greater vigilance along the border and increased efforts to combat this dangerous and deadly criminal activity.