EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Smugglers used “cloned” FedEx vans to smuggle migrants in El Paso’s Upper Valley, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
El Paso border agents from the Santa Teresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit received what they called credible information about a smuggling scheme involving phony FedEx vehicles.
On Friday evening, with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety, agents and troopers stopped three vehicles, two of which were identical to white FedEx vans, and encountered 26 migrants and four smugglers.
A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said smugglers have used this tactic before but not in a while.
“We haven’t seen a FedEx vehicle in some time,” said Agent Sean Coffey. “We do see other types of vehicles used, like construction vehicles, other vehicles that they put a sticker on that looks like a company vehicle.
Coffey as new, stricter penalties come with the end of the Title 42 health rule, migrant smuggling is going to become more aggressive as smugglers attempt to evade the Border Patrol and get farther into the country.
“What we are seeing is an increase in the immigrants who are trying to evade apprehension as opposed to turning themselves in,” he said.
On the other hand, Coffee said, smugglers are putting migrants in greater danger.
“The insides of some of these vehicles can become extremely hot, especially with the large amount of people that are trying to put inside of them,” he said.
Just last week, agents rescued 35 migrants from a box trailer that had become extremely hot and had minimal ventilation in Anthony, New Mexico.
Agents said the migrants apprehended on Friday were found to be in good health. They were from Mexico and Guatemala, while the smugglers were from the U.S. and Mexico.
“El Paso Sector Border Patrol Agents continue to successfully disrupt smuggling schemes and the illegal operations of the Transnational Criminal Organizations,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Good said in a statement.
So far this fiscal year (not counting May or June), El Paso Sector has reported 307,463 migrant encounters, including 2,871 found in 203 stash houses, CBP said.
Daily migrant encounters, however, have fallen dramatically in recent months, going from over 1,500 at the start of last month to about 600 this week. On Wednesday, CBP reported 714 encounters, according to the City of El Paso’s Migrant Dashboard.
