It looked like another box truck rolling through a Border Patrol checkpoint on Nov. 9. But behind a pair of false walls in the back of the vehicle, 67 undocumented noncitizens were crammed together. Four were minors ranging in age from 8 to 13, and one 17-year-old was classified as an unaccompanied minor, according to U.S Customs.
The human smuggling effort was discovered at the Highway 118 checkpoint 12 miles south of Alpine, or about 200 miles southeast of El Paso, CBS DFW reported. The driver, Javier Duarte, 22, was charged with one count of transportation of noncitizens and one count of aiding or assisting noncitizens to enter the United States who were previously convicted of an aggravated felony, a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement states.
That charge was filed because three of the adults have prior aggravated felonies to include rape, possession with intent to distribute dangerous drugs and crimes involving moral turpitude.
Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sean McGoffin
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“The individuals were detected after a K-9 alerted to the presence of concealed humans in the rear compartment of the box truck,” according to a release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “BPAs removed a total of 67 people [41 Mexican nationals, 19 Guatemalan nationals, four Honduras nationals and three El Salvadorian nationals] from behind two separate wooden walls that were drilled into metal brackets in the rear compartment of the box truck.”
Big Bend Sector chief patrol agent Sean McGoffin said this is a serious crime that can lead to dire results.
“Immigration checkpoints are an essential tool in the U.S. Border Patrol’s mission to protect our nation’s borders,” McGoffin said in a release. “Transnational criminal organizations put profit over human life, often, with devastating consequences.”
Duarte is an American citizen. Taekuk Cho, acting special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said Duarte put people at risk in order to make money.
“That unscrupulous smugglers put lives in danger to support their criminal activity is reprehensible,” Cho said in a release. “Homeland Security Investigations continues to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to prevent transnational criminal organizations from putting greed and profit before human life.”
According to a 2016 report from the University of Texas at Austin, there are 78,996 minor and youth victims of human trafficking and 234,457 victims of labor trafficking in Texas at any given time, totaling 313,453 victims of human trafficking.
If convicted, Duarte faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on both counts. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Lance Kennedy and Kevin Eaton are prosecuting the case.
