Border Patrol apprehended over 40 people illegally present in the United States in two separate incidents within a 24-hour timespan at the Falfurrias checkpoint this week.
On Sunday, agents encountered two men, Abel Jimenez and Guadalupe Salazar, at about 10:45 p.m. towing a gooseneck trailer using a white Ford F-250. They claimed to be heading to San Antonio.
When questioned, Jimenez said he was heading to the city to buy food for his horses but after a K-9 unit alerted its handler to the trailer, Jimenez was referred to a secondary inspection.
Agents noticed the trailer had a lock and though Jimenez and Salazar told them the key was in the center console of the truck, they were unable to locate it, forcing them to cut the lock on the trailer’s doors.
“(Border Patrol agents) discovered a total of 25 subjects concealed inside of the trailer,” the criminal complaint said.
During an interview, Jimenez told agents that he met Salazar, who he only knew as “Pope,” two months ago and stated that he “received a call from an unknown subject at around 8 p.m.” that same day and was instructed to pick up a truck at the Love’s Travel Stop in Edinburg.
He said Salazar instructed him to tell agents that the truck belonged to his father and that they were cousins and that the reason they were heading to San Antonio was to pick up feed.
Jimenez added that he was to be paid $2,500 to be the passenger of the truck but ultimately became the driver because “Pope” couldn’t drive.
“Jimenez stated that he asked “Pope” what they were hauling in the trailer and that “Pope” told him that there was nothing in the trailer and to stop asking that question and to just drive,” the complaint said.
He later told Homeland Security Investigations special agents that he knew they were transporting people illegally present in the country, according to the complaint.
Salazar contradicted Jimenez by telling authorities that they’ve known each other since high school and that he met an unknown man at a Stripes gas station two days ago who approached him for a job.
He added that Jimenez wanted to drive the truck and that they were each getting paid $1,500 for smuggling what he believed to be five people.
Not even 24 hours later, agents encountered a man driving a beige 2002 GMC Sierra truck pulling a trailer at approximately 9:15 a.m.
The driver, Jose Antonio Rios, told agents that he was the sole occupant of the pickup but a K-9 unit alerted agents to the trailer where agents discovered 17 people inside who were unlawfully present in the U.S.
“Individuals were stuffed inside the cabinets on the floor and additional cabinets were planed on top concealing them,” the complaint said. “The cabinets were so heavy it took multiple (agents) to move them.”
It was determined that the 10 people were from Guatemala, six from Honduras and one from Mexico.
The complaint states that the 17 people found inside wouldn’t have been able to move the cabinets out of the way to escape and that they were effectively trapped inside the trailer.
Rios told agents he had no idea how the people came to be inside his trailer but later told HSI special agents that he had not possessed the trailer for the past several nights and had only collected it Monday morning for a trip to Alice.
Material witness statements indicate that Rios did help the smuggled individuals into the trailer, according to the complaint.
All three men are set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie K. Hampton for their detention hearing in Corpus Christi federal court on Monday morning.
