Texas truck driver arrested after 41 immigrants found smuggled inside trailer, investigators say

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas truck driver was arrested Thursday after dozens of undocumented migrants ran from a tractor trailer and another 41 were found inside it during a traffic stop, investigators said.

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A driver called police around 6 p.m. about a “suspicious big rig” potentially smuggling people after seeing hands sticking out of a truck’s trailer, KENS reported.

Police arrived and pulled over the 18-wheeler at the TA truck stop on Interstate 10. During the traffic stop dozens of immigrants jumped out of the back of the trailer and ran, KFOX reported.

Investigators found 41 undocumented immigrants in the back of the trailer. San Antonio police said one person was dehydrated and taken to a hospital as a precaution. The others were OK. They were detained by Homeland Security, KENS reported. Police are searching for the migrants who ran off, KENS reported.

The U.S. Department of Justice said driver Aron Bernard Griffin, 49, admitted to making an agreement with another person to pick up the immigrants in Laredo and then take them to San Antonio in exchange for cash, KFOX reported. Griffin was arrested and charged with smuggling undocumented noncitizens. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

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