The driver of the large semi-truck, Michael Warren McCoy, was arrested for human smuggling and booked into the local Webb County jail Monday, Fox News Los Angeles first reported. The 105 illegal immigrants found in the back of the semi-truck comes just days after dozens of attempted human smuggling efforts were found at Laredo’s border checkpoints. In separate cases along Highway 83 checkpoints, people were found jammed into a wide range of trucks, trailers and camping vehicles.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates there are about 3 million illegal entries into the U.S. each year, although border officials have warned of a post-pandemic surge.
On Friday, U.S. border officers found 74 illegal immigrants in the back of travel trailers outside Laredo. K-9 units and Texas Department of Public Safety officers notified border patrol that day to be cautious of a potential barrage of illegal entry efforts after they found multiple people hiding in separate trailers.
In a separate incident within the past month, a routine inspection at Laredo’s Highway 83 checkpoint uncovered 90 migrants packed into an 18-wheeler. Border Patrol told the Laredo Morning Times newspaper Thursday the people who were found attempting to illegally cross into the U.S. were either citizens of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador. Migrants from Central American countries have composed a massive portion of the individuals who have been apprehended at the border in recent years.
However, Fox News Los Angeles reporter Bill Melugin reported Monday a large number of migrants who are currently looking to cross at the border town of Del Rio, Texas, are from Ghana, Haiti, Cuba and other countries experiencing chaotic social shifts.
“The coordination and collaboration between the agents and Texas Department of Public Safety resulted in multiple migrants being rescued from a very dangerous situation,” Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sean L. McGoffin said in a statement in response to the 74 migrants being found at the border. “Transnational criminal organizations recruit United States Citizens to facilitate their smuggling schemes, they continue to place lives in danger with little regard for their safety and well-being.”
On July 2, U.S. border officers in Laredo announced they had seized $1.4 million in methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine from “four separate, unrelated incidents” which occurred over the course of just two days.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection report released Thursday showed more than 1 million illegal immigrants have already crossed the U.S. southern border with Mexico in Fiscal Year 2021, which does not end until October. CBP officials noted they encountered five times more illegal migrants crossing the U.S. border in the month of June than during the same period last year.
“In June 2021, CBP encountered 188,829 persons attempting entry along the Southwest Border,” the agency announced in a media release.
Newsweek reached out on Monday afternoon to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for any additional remarks about the continuing slew of drug seizures, illegal crossing attempts and human trafficking.
