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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Operation Big Rig Aims To Combat Human Smuggling

 

Efforts to stop human trafficking in the Rio Grande Valley are in full force and state investigators say tractor trailers are on the frontline and in a position to help.

Operation Big Rig is a call to action to stop human smuggling.

The number of rescues and apprehensions are rising and law enforcement agencies want the community and truck drivers on the alert.

They are asking cross-country truck drivers to always double check their cargo. Truck driver Gilberto Aguilar points to the top of the trailer bed, a small open crevice is there.

“You got to check because two or three people can fit in there. And then when we are at the checkpoints the cameras will point in there to make sure nobody’s in there,” said Aguilar.

“Especially, out there in Louisiana. They make it all the way to Louisiana and you see somebody opens those doors and they are jumping out of there by dozens of them,” said Aguilar.

Roy Cabrera has heard many human smuggling stories during his five years as a cargo truck driver.

“People hop in the back, hop in your trailers, open trailers, sneak in there, and they take the chance to get in the other side of the checkpoint,” he explained.

A much-publicized deadly smuggling incident in San Antonio last year resulted in 10 people dying in the back of a tractor-trailer and the truck driver being sentenced to life in prison. Another smuggling incident caught 26 people who crossed illegally packed in a rental truck at the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint.

Border Patrol Chief Manuel Padilla said the number of these cases is rising.

“We actually had 45 cases in the fiscal year 2017 that resulted in over 600 rescues,” said Padilla.

Padilla wants these high numbers to go down. Border Patrol and the Joint Task Force West South Texas Corridor have rolled out Operation Big Rig.

“It’s truly an awareness campaign, because of what we are seeing the transportation of immigrants in tractor trailers actually an increase in the number of cases,” said Padilla.

Padilla said it’s a way for the community to get involved and those like Aguilar to report it.

Padilla said the slogan, “They’re humans, not cargo,” will be on the back of cars and billboards across Texas. They are requesting that people who see any suspicious activity call 911 immediately.