El Centro CBP intercepts van with 31 undocumented migrants «packed» inside; driver fled, he was arrested on Mexican side

ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST / EDITOR

Smugglers crammed 31 undocumented migrants—treating them like mere cargo—into a modified van and transported them through the dangerous desert heat near Ocotillo, California, the U.S. Consulate reported in a press release.

The El Centro, California, Border Patrol released details regarding the apprehension and safe repatriation of the 31 individuals, as well as the arrest of the driver

Agents from the #ElCentroSector detained and secured the group of thirty-one undocumented migrants after the driver—upon being spotted by U.S. agents—abandoned them and fled to Mexico, apparently thinking the border was a finish line of sorts.

***This was the small space where thirty people were crammed, by «coyotes» (human traffickers) it all happened in OCOTILLO, under very hot temperatures***

However, Mexican authorities arrested him on their side of the border; the fleeing driver went from the steering wheel to a jail cell, according to the U.S. authorities’ report on this deplorable incident, in which human beings were treated like sacks of goods by being «packed» into the vehicle.

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The report provided no further details regarding the arrest or the migrants’ nationalities—though presumably all, or at least the majority, were Mexican. The incident serves as an example of what human smugglers are capable of, given the cramped conditions in which the migrants were transported—practically «packed» into the back of the van.