New Mexico authorities have charged a person with human smuggling after 11 migrants were found padlocked in the back of a U-Haul truck on New Year's Eve in Hurley.
The migrants were found around 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 31, and Customs and Border Protection reported the incident on Jan. 7. All 11 of them were in the back of the rented truck, while one migrant was sitting in the front passenger seat. All 12 individuals are being processed under Title 8 regulations, which cover immigration and nationality laws, regulating the admission, status, and removal of individuals in the United States.
The driver, who held a Mexican driver's license, was arrested and was now facing human smuggling charges, according to officials, the Border Report mentioned.
After apprehending the vehicle, the Hurley Police Department, located about 15 miles southeast of Silver City, called the Border Patrol for help. El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Anthony "Scott" Good shared the news about the migrants being found on social media but did not provide many details.
Good stated that the incident highlighted the extreme measures smugglers used to avoid detection, while putting lives at risk. The migrants in the back of the truck had limited airflow and were locked inside the rear compartment before law enforcement arrived.
The migrants were identified as being from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras.
Last month, U.S. Border Patrol agents found 22 migrants living in a house in El Paso, according to Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens' social media post.
In August, the police in Mexico's Chihuahua City said they had rescued 1,245 migrants from criminal gangs over the past seven months. Abducted migrants were usually held in cramped stash houses, mostly in Juarez near the U.S. border with El Paso, Texas. Mexican officials said the migrants were rarely given food or water.
These migrants were attempting to reach the United States but fell victim to criminal gangs.
In July 2023, the Hope Border Institute released a report titled "Pain as a Strategy," highlighting how actions by federal authorities in Mexico, Texas officials at the Rio Grande levee, and the Biden administration's June 4 temporary border closure for asylum-seekers without appointments were putting migrants at risk.
The report explained that once migrants arrive in Juarez, cartels often kidnap them and hold them in stash houses, seizing their belongings, including cell phones. The cartels then contact the migrants' families to demand ransoms, sometimes as high as $20,000.
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