Las Vegas Sun

April 25, 2024

20 immigrants found locked in a semitrailer in West Texas

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas — Border Patrol agents have found 20 immigrants crammed into a locked semitrailer at a checkpoint in West Texas.

A Border Patrol spokesman says the immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala were in good condition after being found early Monday at the Interstate 10 checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, about 85 miles southwest of El Paso. The spokesman says they appeared to be in the United States illegally.

The driver, Irving Hernandez, has been booked into the El Paso County Jail in El Paso on a federal alien smuggling charge. No bond has been set. Jail records don't list an attorney for him.