A bogus US Customs and Border Protection truck carrying 17 migrants was stopped from crossing the border by American and Mexican authorities, officers mentioned.
Mexican immigration officers observed that one thing appeared odd concerning the truck once they noticed the automobile attempting to cross into California on Saturday, NBC 7 studies.
Pictures of the automobile present that the pickup truck was outfitted with decal stickers replicating these of official CBP vehicles, together with faux Department of Homeland Security license plates.
David Pérez Tejada, Mexico’s National Migration Institute delegate, mentioned the smugglers working the operation tricked migrants into considering their operation was foolproof.
Tejada mentioned the migrants had been possible informed: “Hop on, we have already got an settlement. This is a US Border Patrol automobile. With this, they gained’t ask you something earlier than you cross the border.”
The smugglers had been swiftly arrested on the border, with the immigrants transferred to police headquarters in Tijuana. The truck was confiscated by US authorities.
This shouldn’t be the primary time US and Mexican officers have come throughout a cloned CBP truck.
In 2021, Homeland Security and Border Patrol brokers stopped an analogous scheme close to the Tucson border once they got here throughout a faux CBP automobile carrying 10 migrants.
CBP vehicles aren’t the one disguises that human smugglers have been utilizing currently. Officials reported final month that cloned FedEx automobiles had been used to attempt to carry 26 migrants into El Paso.
As with the faux CBP truck, the automobiles had been personalized to appear like typical white FedEx vans.
CBP officers have condemned the newest techniques by smugglers amid a report variety of migrant deaths, with 96 our bodies recovered since October.
As temperatures and deaths soar, immigration officers place the blame on money-hungry cartels, which regularly underplay the risks of crossing the border to determined migrants, who could possibly be deserted and left to perish inside vehicles and trailers.
