Immigrants Found Under Hay
Last updated 6/25/2020 at 10:17am
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested a man for human trafficking on June 8 at the Highway 86 checkpoint in Salton City.
The incident occurred when the 42-year-old man in a truck approached the checkpoint.
A Border Patrol canine alerted the agents to the rear area of the semi tractor-trailer, and it was sent to secondary inspection.
At secondary inspection, California Border Patrol agents discovered 12 men and a woman lying under multiple stacks of hay bales.
The migrants, all natives of Mexico, were assisted off the flatbed after the border agents removed the hay bales. None of the undocumented individuals required medical assistance.
The driver, who unlawfully entered the United States, was placed under arrest and processed for human trafficking.
The migrants were processed for illegally crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. All 14 individuals were later deported to Mexico.
CBP said this incident was the 14th tractor-trailer smuggling incident in 2020 in the Imperial Valley.
