US Border Patrol arrested a suspected smuggler carrying four migrants after he tried to outrun them and crashed near the southern border in New Mexico: all five in the van fled but later were captured
- A smuggler and four migrants from Mexico were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on Wednesday
- Border agents attempted to stop the smuggler who then fled and crashed into the base of a stainless steel structure on a street
- The individuals fled the scene of the accident but were later arrested by agents canvassing the neighborhood
- The migrants were processed by CBP and expelled to Mexico under Title 42
- The driver is still in custody and will be facing smuggling charges
A suspected smuggler and four undocumented migrants were taken into custody following a crash in New Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
US agents attempted to pull over the driver of the van in Santa Teresa on Wednesday morning for a routine inspection.
But the driver, a Mexican national, raced away.
U.S. Border Patrol confirmed to DailyMail.com that four Mexican migrants involved in a smuggling van crash in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on Wednesday morning have been expelled to Mexico
CBP said border agents in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, suspected the van was being used to smuggle migrants Wednesday morning and ordered the driver to stop before he fled and then crashed
The driver eventually crashed and got stuck between a set of boulders near the base of a stainless steel structure on a roundabout.
Border agents arrived at the scene, which was in Santa Teresa on the border with Mexico, and did not find anyone inside the van, but they searched the neighborhood and arrested all five people. The road where they crashed is 17 minutes away from the nearest border crossing.
‘After questioning by agents, it was determined that one of the individuals was the driver of the crashed vehicle and the other four were migrants involved in the smuggling scheme,’ CBP said in a statement.
The driver was in custody and faces charges for migrant smuggling. The migrants, all natives from Mexico, were transported to the Santa Teresa Station facility, in accordance with federal immigration guidelines.
Each of them was expelled to Mexico under Title 42 public health order, CBP confirmed to DailyMail.com.
All four of the Mexican migrants who were being smuggled in the van were expelled to Mexico
The policy was enacted by former Republican President Donald Trump’s administration and allows CBP to return migrants to Mexico under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health order because of the health risk of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Biden’s administration has continued enforcing the law, but now ensures that unaccompanied children are not subjected to it.
Southwestern border data released by CBP last Friday showed 78,486 were expelled to Mexico in January.
CBP data for the southwestern border released last Friday showed that encounters with migrants stopped along the southern border for unlawful entry declined by 14% in January, when 153,941 interdictions were reported by Border Patrol agents in comparison with 179,219 in December 2021.
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