Tucson Border Patrol agents rescued 32 migrants who were locked inside a cargo truck following a pursuit on Interstate 10.
On Monday shortly after 6 p.m., agents attempted to stop a cargo truck near the I-10 Frontage Road and the Grant Road intersection. The truck did not yield and sped west out of the city, a news release from Border Patrol said.
The truck eventually came to a stop on a rural road southwest of Tucson. The driver and the passenger ran into the desert, the news release said.
Agents found 32 migrants hidden in the cargo compartment. The 31 men and one unaccompanied child were from Mexico and Guatemala, the news release said. They were taken to the Tucson Border Patrol station for processing. The smugglers were not found.
“Tucson Sector Border Patrol continues to see smugglers transport migrants in box trucks and livestock trailers, a disturbing trend that greatly endangers migrant lives,” the news release said.
Asylum-seekers continue to cross into the U.S. despite Arizona completing its effort to bolster the border wall with shipping containers near the farming community of Yuma. The finished effort to close 3,820-feet of gaps was announced by Gov. Doug Ducey in a statement Wednesday.
