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A Brownsville man was arrested Friday after Border Patrol agents discovered multiple people illegally present in the United States, including a 6-year-old girl, inside his tractor-trailer, according to a criminal complaint.
Pablo Gaytan was charged with knowingly attempting to transport 19 people illegally present in the country by means of transportation.
At about 2:20 a.m., a red Kenworth tractor pulling a white refrigerated trailer driven by Gaytan entered the primary inspection lane of the U.S Border Patrol Checkpoint near Falfurrias.
When asked what he was hauling and where he was heading, Gaytan said he was hauling pallets of onions and was going to make short trips to San Antonio, Houston and Corpus Christi.
As the agent conducted his interview, his service K-9 alerted him to the trailer, so Gaytan was referred to the secondary inspection area.
Another agent conducted a systematic search of the tractor-trailer with his service K-9 and discovered nine people in the sleeper cabin of the tractor.
That is where agents found the 6-year-old girl accompanied by her mother. Both were hidden in the sleeper closet.
Gaytan was then taken into custody along with the nine people found inside the tractor. However, these weren’t the only people found.
An X-ray of the trailer revealed several anomalies.
Agents then discovered 10 additional people hidden between pallets of onions, including a 17-year-old juvenile.
All 19 people were determined to be illegally present in the U.S.
In an interview with authorities, Gaytan stated that he lives in Brownsville with his son’s mother, who is currently unemployed, but he drops off loads of produce approximately twice a week and gets paid $500 per load.
“Gaytan stated he coordinated with a female to pick up the load of onions to transport them to Kroger in Houston,” the complaint said. “Gaytan stated he picked up the tractor trailer on a paved street in Brownsville.”
He added that he only inspected the exterior of the tractor-trailer and never inspected the interior.
He also said he was told there were four people placed inside the tractor, but didn’t believed the migrant who told him.
When asked how the people got inside, Gaytan requested a lawyer.
Then, at about 5:37 p.m., Gaytan said he wanted to make a statement to Homeland Security Investigations special agents.
Gaytan said that on Thursday, he made arrangements with another man to transport the onions along with a “few” people in the tractor as well.
That same day, at about 11:30 p.m., the man sent Gaytan a text instructing him to go to Paredes Line Road and Pineda Boulevard in Brownsville, the location of the tractor that was already loaded.
Gaytan believed there were four people inside the tractor and didn’t know about those inside the trailer.
Gaytan made his initial appearance in Corpus Christi federal court Monday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchel Neurock
