I wondered where these guys were
Posted on 12/24/2003 11:11:33 AM PST by gubamyster
Posted on Tue, Dec. 23, 2003
By Gale M. Bradford Special to the Star-Telegram
WEATHERFORD - Fifteen wet, cold undocumented immigrants were found padlocked in the back of a refrigerated 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig Monday after a state trooper stopped the truck on Interstate 20 for not having mud flaps, the Department of Public Safety reported.
The trailer, loaded with produce in addition to 15 men and women, had an interior temperature of 36.8 degrees, trooper Joey Evans said.
"He picked them up in El Paso. They'd probably been in there about 10 hours," Evans said. "They were very cold, wet and scared.
"They were wet from the condensation on the produce. The driver said he'd thrown a few blankets back there, but the blankets were wet. It was not a pretty picture in there."
The driver had purchased the blankets, knowing his cargo would be cold in the truck, Evans said. He was headed for Arlington, Evans said.
"The driver said he was paid $200 a head for transporting the immigrants," Evans said. "He said he made about $200,000 this year doing this."
When he stopped the truck for not having mud flaps, Evans said, the driver appeared nervous and could not produce a logbook. "He said he'd lost it," Evans said.
That's when Evans called for trooper John Forrest Sr., a veteran DPS officer assigned to the license and weight division who has made numerous drug arrests on I-20.
"The driver had been arrested in June of this year for possession of methamphetamine under 400 grams," Evans said. "He had a female passenger in the cab of the truck with him, and she was real nervous and very upset.
"I spoke to the lady and she tells me she just 'threw the meth.' I asked her where she threw it, and she pointed. I found baggies of crystal methamphetamine on the ground and placed them both under arrest.
"I talked to the driver, and he said he had a problem. He said there were 15 illegal aliens in the back of the truck. We found the men and women -- no children -- in the back," Evans said.
Evans and Forrest also reported finding a green duffel bag containing 28.8 pounds of marijuana in the sleeper cab of the truck, a 2000 Peterbilt.
The driver, Shawn Matthew Miler, 36, and the passenger, Melissa Dawn Lego, 25, both of Florida, could face charges of possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Evans said authorities will also charge the pair with trafficking persons, a second-degree felony, under a state law that went into effect Sept. 1.
The immigrants' ages range from the mid-20s to the 50s, the troopers said. Most were wearing jackets and jeans, Evans said.
"No baggage, no backpacks and no luggage," he said. "They had on what they had."
A person's ability to survive in the cold "would depend on the person's general health, their age, their size, their weight and the amount of clothing they had on," said Terry Bavousett, acting director of State Emergency Medical Services with the Texas Health Department.
Forrest said the immigrants would probably have been met by two "coyotes," or smugglers, in Arlington and likely would have stayed in the Metroplex. Two are from Mexico and the rest from Brazil, he said.
Authorities from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services took the immigrants into custody, Evans said.
Kewl!
He's making $200,000 a year and can't afford mud flaps?
Come on, now. Where are these people going to come up with 200 dollars for the trip back home?
She must have had some big bust.
Any before pictures.
"Two of the immigrants were from Mexico and the rest from Brazil, he said. Immigration authorities took the 15 men and women into custody, Evans said, and they will be returned to Mexico."
"The driver said he was paid $200 a head for transporting the immigrants," Evans said. "He said he made about $200,000 this year doing this."
Is anybody out there looking for some extra money? Taking some illegal aliens sight-seeing seems to pay rather well.
I, for one, cannot understand why Mexico, with all its natural resources, cannot have a standard of living equal to, if not better, the US.
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"We found 13 illegal Mexicans and hispanics, 11 males and two females, age 20 to 50," Kavakich said. "None of them spoke English."
so he called the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Pittsburgh.
An agent at the service surprised Kavakich when he told the police officer to release the bunch.
I wondered where these guys were
Don't worry. You know they were released with a letter telling them to report to a deportation hearing at some future date.:-) They will never show up and there will be no followup.
Better get 'em back to the warmer climate of Ciudad Juarez ASAP.
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