The US Border Patrol is reiterating the serious consequences and risks associated with getting smuggled across the border illegally as the amount of illegal aliens being discovered inside tractor trailers rises.
The Rio Grande Valley along the Texas/Mexico border has been experiencing a major influx in human trafficking involving tractor trailers, prompting Border Patrol agents to remind the public of the potentially deadly consequences of being smuggled illegally, even urging US citizens with family in Mexico to remind their relatives that the journey may not be worth it.
“You have two extremes. You have the extreme where the tractor is either extremely hot. We’ve had simulations in the past where you close the door and the rear portion immediately reaches temperatures exceeding 130 degrees, almost 140 and you have the other extreme where they are exposed to extreme cold… they are kept in a reefer unit,” said US Border Patrol Agent Robert Rodriguez.
“The majority of times the tractor trailers are locked without a means of escape, which means someone has to unlock it from outside. Otherwise they’re trapped inside the tractor trailer. Unfortunately there’s been times where people have died in there.”
The US Border Patrol also wants to remind people that “smugglers don’t care” about the well being of their cargo and that anyone witnessing suspicious activity should call 911.
