An alleged human smuggler was busted in Texas trafficking nearly 60 migrants packed into the back of a Penske box truck, according to authorities.
Inside of the truck, 58 migrants — 49 men and 9 women — were crammed inside. They were from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala, DPS said.
The driver was identified as Marquez Oviel, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, officials told Fox News. He was arrested and faces federal human trafficking charges.
The migrants were handed over to border patrol.
The truck bust is among the latest in a string of apprehensions of illegal migrants by Texas authorities.
During a traffic stop in Kinney County, Texas last Friday, a deputy found four migrants inside of a car, including 14 and 16-year-old girls.
Texas DPS released bodycam footage of the stop on Twitter. “There are two kids in the back,” an officer says after opening the back seat doors, video shows.
About halfway into the 80-second video, a woman is handcuffed and told she is under arrest for human smuggling.
“You’re arresting the wrong people,” one suspect tells the officer in the clip.
When the officer asks him who he should be arrested, the suspect — identified only as a San Antonio resident — responds: “The cartels. They’re killing people and sex trafficking and everything bad.”
“Those people are the same people that sent you down here,” the officer shoots back, video shows.
Additionally, DPS aircraft located three dozen migrants all dressed in camouflage hiding in a cave in Culberson County, the governor’s office announced Friday.
Migrants have been apprehended on a daily basis since Gov. Greg Abbott launched the controversial Operation Lone Star in March 2021 in response to the surge in illegal border crossings.
According to Gov. Abbott’s office, since the launch of the initiative there have been over 360,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 26,000 criminal arrests with more than 24,000 felony charges reported.
