U.S. Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint near Sasabe, Arizona arrested a man for smuggling an illegal immigrant in his truck’s toolbox on June 23, 2020.
In the afternoon agents referred a Chevrolet Silverado to a secondary inspection after a canine alerted to the vehicle. Agents subsequently located a Mexican man trapped inside the truck bed’s metal toolbox. The air temperature was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
The Mexican national, illegally present in the United States, was examined and cleared by Emergency Medical Services for heat exposure. He was later returned to Mexico under Title 42 authority.
The 36-year-old U.S. citizen driver will be federally charged for human smuggling.
U.S. Border Patrol officials warn that locking people in compartments, such as trunks and trailers, can be deadly. Such smuggling tactics jeopardize migrants’ lives, increasing the dangers of extreme heat and those posed by a vehicle collision.
