A United States man was arrested Friday after Border Patrol agents at the Falfurrias checkpoint found eight people illegally present in the country inside a vehicle’s camper “struggling to breathe … due to the heat,” according to a criminal complaint.
Aaron Gutierrez was charged with knowingly and with reckless disregard attempting to transport people illegally present in the U.S.
The complaint states that agents encountered Gutierrez around 5:20 a.m. on Friday driving a white 2005 Chevrolet Silverado “containing a camper shell.”
The primary agent asked Gutierrez how he was doing and he responded with “fine.”
“The primary agent noticed Gutierrez looked at him with a wide eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look, which was interpreted as nervousness,” the complaint said.
It was then that an agent’s canine partner alerted to the camper, so Gutierrez was sent to the secondary inspection area for further inspection.
“Once in secondary, a canine search revealed eight concealed humans within the camper of the vehicle,” the complaint said. “All concealed subjects were questioned as to their citizenship and all admitted to being illegally present in the United States.”
Gutierrez refused to provide a statement but two of the concealed people spoke to authorities.
One man said they were heading to Houston but due to the conditions inside the camper, doubted they could make it that far.
“[The man] stated all the concealed subjects were struggling to breath and were doubting they could make it to Houston,” the complaint said.
“The primary agent noticed Gutierrez looked at him with a wide eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look, which was interpreted as nervousness,” the complaint said.
He added that all their phones were taken away before departing.
Another man described the events that occurred prior to being caught at the Falfurrias checkpoint.
He said the white truck arrived at the stash house the other seven people were staying in and reversed toward the entrance of the house and were directed to get inside the truck.
“[He] stated it was hot and they were sweating inside due to the heat,” the complaint said. “Subject stated they had no food, water or cell phone with them.”
The man also said that he had no idea how to exit the truck in case of an emergency.
Gutierrez is set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie K. Hampton in Corpus Christi federal court for a detention hearing Thursday morning.
