Hereford, Arizona - Border Patrol agents from the Brian A. Terry Station discovered 18 illegal aliens, including two children, hidden inside a box truck in Hereford Saturday afternoon and arrested the 56-year-old male driver.
Agents in the Coronado National Memorial area observed a group of suspected illegal aliens walking through the desert towards Montezuma Canyon Road as well as a box truck stopping multiple times along that same road.
Additional agents observed the truck leave the memorial area and followed behind. A short time later, the driver of the box truck self-yielded. An agent stopped behind the truck, approached the driver, and requested to search the back of the truck, to which the driver agreed and opened the rear door.
The agent subsequently discovered 18 people in the rear of the truck: 3 Guatemala nationals, 13 Mexican nationals, and 2 unaccompanied Mexican national children, inside the rear of the box truck. The truck had no source of light, fresh air ventilation or air conditioning, water, nor any means of escape from the inside.
The driver was arrested for human smuggling and all the illegal aliens were transported to the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station to be processed for immigration violations.
As Arizona’s temperatures rise, people hiding in vehicle trunks or trailers are at a greater risk of suffering from heat injury, physical injury, or death.