Smugglers caught trying to sneak migrants into US with fake Border Patrol truck

By Ronny Reyes

A bogus US Customs and Border Protection truck carrying 17 migrants was stopped from crossing the border by American and Mexican authorities, officials said.

Mexican immigration officials noticed that something appeared odd about the truck when they spotted the vehicle trying to cross into California on Saturday, NBC 7 reports.

Pictures of the vehicle show that the pickup truck was outfitted with decal stickers replicating those of official CBP trucks, along with fake Department of Homeland Security license plates.

David Pérez Tejada, Mexico’s National Migration Institute delegate, said the smugglers running the operation tricked migrants into thinking their operation was foolproof.

Tejada said the migrants were likely told: “Hop on, we already have an agreement. This is a US Border Patrol vehicle. With this, they won’t ask you anything before you cross the border.”

The smugglers were swiftly arrested at the border, with the immigrants transferred to police headquarters in Tijuana. The truck was confiscated by US authorities.

This is not the first time US and Mexican officials have come across a cloned CBP truck.

In 2021, Homeland Security and Border Patrol agents stopped a similar scheme near the Tucson border when they came across a fake CBP vehicle carrying 10 migrants.

The truck was carrying 17 migrants, who were transferred to officials in Tijuana.

The truck was confiscated by American officials. It is not the first time such vehicles have been used.

CBP trucks aren’t the only disguises that human smugglers have been using lately. Officials reported last month that cloned FedEx vehicles were used to try to bring 26 migrants into El Paso.

As with the fake CBP truck, the vehicles were customized to look like typical white FedEx vans.

CBP officials have condemned the latest tactics by smugglers amid a record number of migrant deaths, with 96 bodies recovered since October.

As temperatures and deaths soar, immigration officials place the blame on money-hungry cartels, which often underplay the dangers of crossing the border to desperate migrants, who could be abandoned and left to perish inside trucks and trailers.

https://nypost.com/2023/07/25/smugglers-caught-using-fake-border-patrol-truck-to-sneak-migrants-over-border/