Texas Border Patrol Discovers 20 Immigrants Hiding Under A Trailer Truck’s Floorboards

Border Patrol agents on Tuesday discovered 20 undocumented immigrants crammed inside a trailer during an inspection at a Texas checkpoint.

Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero of the Del Rio Sector said in a tweet that 18 adults and two children, aged 10 and 15, were found trapped under the trailer floorboards. According to Skero, a police dog alerted the agents of the trailer’s hidden passengers.

Photos posted by the United States Border Patrol agent showed the undocumented immigrants lying down alongside each other with seemingly no more room to move.

Tarps and bags were placed on the trailer's bed to conceal the immigrants hiding underneath, the New York Post reported.

Skero said this type of human smuggling attempts can easily become dangerous.

"With temperatures on the rise, smuggling attempts like these have a high potential to turn deadly," Skero explained.

On the same day, agents intercepted another suspiciouos vehicle and discovered three people trapped inside a truck. Skero credited the discovery to the agency's "tech," which he said helped reveal a person trapped inside a padlocked toolbox.

"Technology continues to assist, even at our checkpoints," Skero said in a statement, accompanied by a photo of what appears to be a man hidden inside a truck.

The origins of the immigrants as well as their destinations were not disclosed by authorities.

President Joe Biden has been pushing to reform the U.S. immigration system while tackling the covid-19 pandemic. These reforms focus on streamlining the country's immigration process.

The measures, however, do not address the status of around 11 million undocumented immigrants stuck in a state of legal limbo.

This comes at a time when apprehensions of undocumented migrants on the U.S. border with Mexico soared by 70% in March to 172,331, the highest number ever recorded in 15 years.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said most of the migrants, who arrived in large groups, were from Mexico and the Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.