NEW YORK: U.S. Border Patrol agents have rescued 49 people hidden within several vehicles while drivers attempted to smuggle them undetected into the United States during the past two days.
Photos provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection show people crowded in compartments of separate vehicles during three arrests Thursday and Friday.
During the largest rescue just after midnight Friday, agents at Falfurrias Station found 38 undocumented persons locked inside of a tractor trailer at a checkpoint on U.S. Highway 281 North, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release Friday.
Two other rescues Thursday at the same checkpoint found 11 people: nine people were found sweating profusely in the bed of a Chevy Avalanche that was being transported on a flatbed truck while two more were found in the trunk of a car in a separate case.
Agents arrested drivers in each case, according to the release.
