Over the weekend, a truckload of illegal immigrants was dropped off at a truck stop in Weatherford, Texas.
Weatherford Police received a call at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, alerting them to the unloading of several people from a semi truck. Police arrived at the Truck & Travel in the 1100 block of West Park Avenue, near I-20.
When officers arrived, they found:
“several undocumented immigrants walking in the parking lot and on the roadway near the business.”
Officers detained 31 adults and 3 minors, all of whom police believed to be from Mexico or Honduras.
Upon their discovery by police, the immigrants appeared hot, tired and hungry from having been riding in the trailer all day. Police provided them with food and water.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that these 34 people were smuggled into the country illegally.
According to The Scoop Blog, some of the immigrants told police that they had paid a sum to be driven across the El Paso/Juarez border.
They then stayed temporarily at a house in El Paso. The smuggler had made arrangements for a truck driver to take them from El Paso to Dallas.
Officials say it is unclear why the trucker dropped the immigrants off in Weatherford. The immigrants claimed that they were unsure where they were when officers approached them.
The immigrants were detained through the night, and Border Patrol retrieved them Monday morning to process them in Abilene.
Police say there is no evidence at this point that suggests the immigrants were being held against their will or for forced labor purposes.
Officers say the incident appears to be non-U.S. citizens trying to enter the country illegally to find work by organizing a human smuggling group.
The truck and its driver were gone upon police arrival.
Police do not have a detailed description of the truck or the truck driver. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 817-598-4310.
