Border Patrol agents in Texas’ Del Rio Sector rescued three migrants locked inside a sweltering freight rail car near Knippa this week, marking the second such discovery at the same inspection site in less than a month, according to an exclusive Breitbart report published Sunday.
Agents from the Uvalde Border Patrol Station were searching rail cars Monday at a freight train siding when a canine team flagged the scent of concealed humans inside a locked auto hauler carrying newly assembled vehicles from Mexico. Inside, agents found three people sealed in with no way out. Temperatures in the region have continued to climb past 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The occupants were identified as one Mexican national, one Nicaraguan, and one Honduran. They were transported to the Uvalde station and processed for removal.
A Repeat at the Same Siding
The rescue came just two weeks after agents pulled eight migrants from another automobile hauler at the same rail car inspection site on August 30. That group included a child and consisted of three Mexican nationals, three Salvadorans, one Guatemalan, and one Chinese national — all locked in with no means of escape.
The corridor where both incidents occurred is a major freight route connecting the U.S.-Mexico border to San Antonio. Daily searches of hundreds of freight cars — hauling sealed containers, grain, rock from stone quarries, and industrial goods — are a routine part of the job for agents assigned there.
Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good addressed the recurring danger in a statement cited by Breitbart. “Attempts to make illegal entry via trains have historically had tragic results,” Good said. “This is the second time in two weeks our agents have rescued smuggled humans locked in a rail car at this location.”
Tragedy and Indictments Earlier This Year
The tactic has already turned deadly in 2026. Breitbart Texas’ Bob Price reported earlier this year that a federal grand jury in Del Rio indicted 11 alleged human smugglers on multi-count charges connected to the deaths of seven migrants trapped in a rail car near the Texas-Mexico border. Seven of the defendants are foreign nationals from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, according to a Justice Department statement cited in that report.
Fiscal year 2026 has seen illegal alien apprehensions in the Del Rio Sector fall to fewer than 1,000 per month, down from a peak of more than 70,000 in December 2023. The sharp drop — attributed by Breitbart to strict immigration policies enacted under the Trump administration — has coincided with a similarly dramatic decline in rail car rescues and apprehensions.
Despite those declines, the sealed-rail-car concealment method persists, which agents and analysts describe as a sign of cartel smugglers growing more desperate as crossing the border becomes harder. Smugglers now also contend with a Border Patrol staffed at its highest level in more than a century. In late June, CBP announced that the agency had reached a historic milestone of 21,271 agents on the front lines.
The sealed auto hauler presents a particular hazard: with no ventilation or means of escape, occupants face rapidly rising temperatures and the risk of suffocation. In both September and August incidents, agents credited canine detection with locating the groups before conditions turned fatal.
Randy Clark, a 32-year veteran of the Border Patrol who retired as Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations overseeing nine stations in the Del Rio Sector, contributed reporting and analysis to the Breitbart piece.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/border/2026/09/13/exclusive-callous-cartel-human-smugglers-lock-illegal-aliens-in-100-degree-plus-texas-rail-cars/