Border Patrol K-9 leads agents to more than 50 migrants hidden inside a tanker trailer in Texas

Border Patrol K-9 leads agents to more than 50 migrants hidden inside a tanker trailer near the United States-Mexico border in Texas

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection said agents from the Laredo Sector found more than 50 migrants being transported inside a tanker last Friday
  • Border Patrol agents were conducting a checkpoint on Highway 83 in Laredo, Texas, when they deployed a K-9 to search the tanker trailer 
  • The migrants – all natives of Mexico – and the driver, a citizen of the United States, were placed under arrest
  • Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents have  detained at least 5,300 migrants from more than 165 trucks since October 1, 2020
  • In comparison, agents detained 2,300 migrants between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020


A Border Patrol K-9 helped agents discover more than 50 migrants hiding inside a tanker trailer at a traffic stop in Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported. 

CBP said a team of border agents assigned to the Laredo Sector was working at a checkpoint on Highway 83 Friday when a truck driver hauling a tanker trailer was stopped. 

A sniffer dog inspected the trailer and led Border Patrol officers to the tanker. When the agents subjected the driver, a U.S. citizen, to a secondary inspection, they found the individuals huddled inside.

U.S. Border Patrol detained the driver and the migrants, all of whom were identified as natives of Mexico.  

Border Patrol agents assigned to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Laredo Sector arrested more than 50 Mexican nationals who were being ferried inside a tanker on Friday in Laredo, Texas. 

Migrants sit on the side of a road while others step out of the tanker they were traveling in before U.S. Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, ordered the driver to stop for an inspection. More than 50 migrants - all native of Mexico - and the driver, a U.S. citizen, were placed under arrest

Migrants sit on the side of a road while others step out of the tanker they were traveling in before U.S. Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, ordered the driver to stop for an inspection. More than 50 migrants – all native of Mexico – and the driver, a U.S. citizen, were placed under arrest

CBP did not say if the migrants had been smuggled across the border in the truck or if they were already in the United States and were being ferried to another city.

‘Human smugglers continue to have no regard for the safety and health of the people they exploit for profit,’ CBP’s Laredo Sector said in a statement. 

‘Laredo Sector agents focus on the agency’s enduring mission priorities of countering terrorism, combatting transnational crime, securing the border, facilitating lawful trade, protecting revenue, and facilitating lawful travel.’ 

As of Wednesday, Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector detained at least 5,300 migrants from more than 165 trucks at checkpoints between October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. 

Agents detained 2,300 migrants during the same period in 2020.

According to a CBP report released May 10, 178,622 undocumented immigrants were stopped for unlawful entry from Mexico to the United States in April, surpassing March’s total by 5,274. 

For its part, Laredo Sector agents encountered 10,927 migrants in April, down from 11,180 in March.