In The News
34 immigrants left by tractor-trailer southwest of Fort Worth
WEATHERFORD, Texas — Police in North Texas say 34 immigrants smuggled in a closed truck trailer as temperatures topped the 90s have been detained following a nearly 600-mile drive from El Paso.
Weatherford police said the men, women and three juveniles were tired, hungry and hot but all declined medical help after being located Sunday night. Border Patrol agents took custody of the immigrants, for processing in Abilene.
Police in Weatherford, 20 miles southwest of Fort Worth, responded to a phone call about a tractor-trailer rig seen leaving people at a truck stop, The Associated Press reported.
Some of the immigrants, from Mexico and Honduras, told investigators that they paid a smuggler to get them to El Paso as part of a planned trip to Dallas. The driver instead dumped the immigrants in Weatherford, then left.
CBS Local, part of CBS radio, reported that the 34 people, were dropped off at the Truck and Travel Truckstop in Weatherford shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police told CBS Local that they got a phone call saying an 18-wheeler had stopped there and unloaded the nearly three dozen people from the back of the trailer.
Upon arriving, officers found several undocumented immigrants walking around the facility's parking lot and along the road near the truck stop.
Most if not all the immigrants were thought to have been rounded up by authorities.
Weatherford Police contacted officials with the Immigration and Naturalization Service who verified that the stow-aways had been illegally smuggled into the U.S. and dropped off in Weatherford, despite an agreement to take them to Dallas.
Police said some of the immigrants told them they paid someone to smuggle them into the U.S. at the El Paso/Juarez border and then on to Dallas.
But the truck driver decided to stop in Weatherford to unload all of the immigrants.
Police said all of the individuals were tired, hot and hungry and had apparently been traveling in the hot trailer all day. They had no idea where they were when officers approached them.
News sources said none of the individuals have been charged with a crime and none were arrested. They were detained on an INS hold and housed at the Parker County Jail while the juveniles were taken to the Weatherford Police Department.
On Monday, Border Patrol agents picked the immigrants up and took them to Abilene.
At this time, nothing seems to indicate that any of the individuals were being held against their will or being held for forced labor, authorities stated.
Police said it appears to be a case of non-U.S. citizens attempting to enter the country illegally to find work by utilizing an organized human smuggling group.
Investigators have no detailed description of the truck or truck driver as they were already gone from the area before authorities arrived.
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].