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Thursday, March 27, 1997

Dozens of illegal immigrants found inside rented U-Haul truck

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Fifty-seven undocumented immigrants, including seven children, have been found crammed inside a 26-foot U-Haul truck on an interstate highway near San Antonio.

Two Mexican citizens have been charged with illegally transporting the immigrants, said spokesman Ray Dudley of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"This is a lot of people for one 26-foot truck," Dudley said. "That is about twice the length of a car, when you think about it. Even standing up they were crowded and cramped. It was unsafe and unsanitary."

The discovery was made Monday during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 near Gonzales, about 60 miles east of San Antonio. The truck was headed for Houston, Dudley said.

Forty-three of the immigrants are from Mexico and 14 from El Salvador. Among the group were seven children and seven women. Three of the children were from El Salvador and were traveling by themselves, reportedly being taken to their parents in Houston, Dudley said.

"They were a 6-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, packed in there with all the rest," Dudley said. The rest of the undocumented immigrants were teen-agers or older, he said.

The 43 Mexican immigrants were voluntarily deported Tuesday, but it will take longer to arrange the return of the Salvadorans, Dudley said.

The children were turned over to Texas Child Protective Services.

Carlos Perez-Hernandez, 28, and Jose Alfaro Cortez-Flores, 22, were charged with transportation of undocumented immigrants and ordered held without bond Tuesday in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate John Primomo.

A bond hearing will be held April 4.

Perez-Hernandez is believed to have been the guide for the group, Dudley said.

Authorities said the truck was rented in Houston and driven to Laredo, where the immigrants were picked up. The smugglers charged the immigrants from Mexico $500 for the trip and those from El Salvador $2,500, federal officials said.

One of the immigrants said his final destination was New York City; the others were headed for Houston.

Gonzales County sheriff's deputies said they stopped the truck because it had been weaving. It then was determined the driver had no license, and the INS was notified after people were discovered packed inside the truck, Dudley said. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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