Border Patrol agents made a startling discovery in the scorching California desert after finding 31 migrants allegedly crammed into the back of a modified utility truck in a suspected human-smuggling operation.
The packed vehicle was discovered near Ocotillo, a tiny Imperial County community near the US-Mexico border, according to the US Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector.
“Smugglers packed 31 illegal aliens like cargo into a modified utility truck and hauled them through dangerous desert heat near Ocotillo, California,” the agency said.
But the suspected driver apparently wasn’t sticking around to explain.
Border Patrol said the driver ditched the vehicle and fled across the border into Mexico as agents took the group into custody.
However, his getaway didn’t last long. Mexican law enforcement subsequently arrested the suspected smuggler.
“Apparently thinking the border doubled as a finish line,” the agency quipped. “Mexican law enforcement arrested him too, leaving the getaway driver to trade the steering wheel for a jail cell.”
The alleged smuggling attempt unfolded in one of Southern California’s most unforgiving landscapes.
The El Centro Sector oversees roughly 70 miles of the international border through the Imperial Valley, where agents patrol sprawling desert, mountain ranges and agricultural areas. Its four Border Patrol stations are located in El Centro, Calexico, Indio and Riverside.
Summer temperatures in parts of the desert can rocket past 120 degrees, creating potentially deadly conditions for both migrants attempting to cross the region and the agents tasked with finding them.
The truck discovery comes as overall apprehensions at the southern border have plunged compared with the historic highs recorded in previous years.
Daily apprehensions along the southwest border have recently averaged roughly 258, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
But the dramatic decline hasn’t stopped smugglers and migrants from attempting dangerous routes into California, sometimes with potentially deadly consequences.
On July 29, authorities intercepted a small vessel roughly 14 miles west of San Clemente Island off the Southern California coast and discovered 21 migrants packed aboard the boat, according to officials with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection.
And in August, Border Patrol agents raced to rescue a 25-year-old Mexican man who officials said became stranded for two days after crossing the US-Mexico border and getting lost in the remote Jacumba Mountains.
The man had run out of water and was “running out of time” when he placed a distress call, according to the El Centro Sector.
Agents obtained his GPS coordinates and scrambled response teams to the rugged area while requesting aerial assistance from multiple agencies.
The unforgiving terrain made the rescue more difficult, with sprawling boulder fields limiting where aircraft could reach.
The latest incident near Ocotillo ended with all 31 migrants in Border Patrol custody and the suspected driver under arrest in Mexico, according to the agency.
