NOGALES, AZ — Authorities say a human smuggler was caught with a trailer full of nearly three dozen people at a checkpoint north of Nogales.
According to Customs and Border Protection, agents at the I-19 checkpoint asked a semi to pull aside for closer inspection Tuesday night.
The trailer contained produce from Mexico along with 33 people from Mexico and El Salvador, CBP said.
Among those inside the nearly 100-degree trailer were 12 children ranging in age from three to 17, a pregnant woman and a convicted felon.
The heat "posed an imminent danger" to those locked inside, the agency said in a news release. The trailer had a refrigeration unit, but it was not turned on.
The driver, a 37-year-old Mexican national, was arrested on federal human smuggling charges. Those inside the trailer will be processed for immigration violations, CBP said.
