Less than a year after a man was arrested by Border Patrol with a tractor-trailer packed with people who were illegally in the country, that man’s son has now been arrested for a nearly identical allegation.
Border Patrol on Tuesday night arrested Leonardo Davila Jr. at the Falfurrias checkpoint after agents discovered 73 people concealed in the tractor-trailer he was driving.
The man’s father, Leonardo Davila Sr., was arrested at that same checkpoint on May 4, 2021, with a tractor-trailer packed with 68 people in the country illegally.
In the son’s case, he arrived at the checkpoint at approximately 10:30 p.m. that night in a blue tractor pulling a white trailer and upon arrival, a canine immediately alerted to the vehicle, according to the complaint.
The agent asked Leonardo Davila Jr. where he was coming from and he said Edinburg and that he was heading to Houston, federal authorities say.
He was referred to secondary where Border Patrol found the 73 people, all of whom were in the country illegally.
One of those people, a citizen of El Salvador, said she was afraid to get inside the trailer but had to because some men were forcing them inside the trailer, according to the complaint.
Another person, also a citizen of El Salvador, told agents they were threatened to not say anything, to not cough and to not speak.
In Leonardo Davila Sr.’s case, he arrived at the checkpoint at about 10:25 p.m. on May 4, 2021 and a canine alerted to the tractor-trailer he was driving, according to the complaint.
“During a search of the trailer, Border Patrol agents located 68 individuals in the refrigerated trailer where they were being transported with a load of onions,” the complaint stated.
Leonardo Davila Jr. was scheduled to make a first appearance Friday morning in Corpus Christi federal court on a charge of bringing in and harboring people in the country illegally,
His father has since been indicted and has pleaded not guilty.
