Smugglers Sealed 4 Migrants Inside a Water Tank in a Pickup Truck at the Texas Border, Border Patrol Says

Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, say they discovered four migrants sealed inside a portable water tank that smugglers had jammed into the bed of a pickup truck, the latest sign that trafficking operations are turning to increasingly dangerous methods as crossings at the southwest border remain at multiyear lows.

According to Customs and Border Protection, which confirmed the incident to The Daily Wire, the discovery happened on the evening of September 14 while agents patrolled a rural highway. The tank sat in the bed of a 2007 Ford F-150. Inside were two migrants from Bolivia, one from Cuba and one from Colombia, with no means of escape.

Agents had to break out power tools to get the group out.

Relief by the side of the road

Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good described the conditions bluntly in a statement.

“Smugglers don’t care for the safety of those they see as mere human cargo,” Good said, adding that “putting people in confined spaces with no means of escape is dangerous and barbaric.” He credited the agents’ actions with preventing what he said could have turned into a tragedy.

The four migrants declined medical attention after being freed and were taken into Border Patrol custody for processing, per CBP.

Investigators identified the driver as a 19-year-old American. Border agents handed him over to Homeland Security Investigations to face a charge of alien smuggling.

The Daily Wire first reported the details of the apprehension.

A broader pattern of risky smuggling tactics

The water tank case is not an isolated one. Smugglers have adapted as enforcement has tightened, and the adaptations have repeatedly put migrants in physical danger.

Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector said agents there found 31 migrants packed “like cargo” into a modified utility truck that had been driven through desert heat near Ocotillo, California. According to the sector’s account posted online, the driver abandoned the group and fled into Mexico, apparently believing he had escaped — only to be picked up by Mexican authorities. Agents took the 31 into custody.

In April, Department of Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire that Border Patrol personnel from around the country were pulled to Laredo, Texas, to help local agents handle a rise in migrants attempting to flee from authorities.

Smugglers have also shifted toward maritime routes in recent months, loading small boats with large groups of people in attempts to reach the coasts of California and Florida.

Why the tactics are shifting

Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has put in place a series of border policies — among them ending the Biden administration’s practice of releasing border crossers into the country while their cases proceed — that his administration says have produced historically low numbers of border encounters.

The drop in straightforward crossings has not eliminated demand from migrants seeking entry, and smugglers have responded by improvising: hiding people in modified vehicles, stuffing them into compartments with no ventilation or exit, and routing groups through remote terrain or open water.

CBP has pointed to cases like the Eagle Pass water tank as evidence of what its agents confront when trafficking networks prioritize profit over the people they move. The agency has repeatedly emphasized that enclosed, unventilated hiding places carry risks of suffocation, heat injury and death, particularly in the temperatures common along the Texas-Mexico border in September.

The four migrants in the tank were fortunate by comparison. After agents cut them free, they were processed and placed in custody. The 19-year-old driver now faces federal smuggling charges in a case that, according to CBP’s account, could have ended far worse.

Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-smugglers-try-something-creative-to-slip-migrants-past-trumps-sealed-border