Trucker imprisoned after attempting to flee federal checkpoint with 108 migrants in trailer

A truck driver has been sentenced to prison after an attempt to drive away from a federal checkpoint during an inspection. 

The migrants were found on May 29th of this year, and truck driver Ivan Salazar pleaded guilty on July 27th. Salazar was sentenced to 50 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on October 5th by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo. 

According to LMT Online, Salazar arrived at the Interstate 35 border checkpoint in a silver truck hauling a wbite trailer and was referred to secondary inspection after a K9 unit alerted to possible contraband inside of the trailer. Salazar then “left the primary inspection area but did not stop at the secondary inspection area as instructed and fled toward I-35,” states the arrest affidavit.

Agents then stopped the trailer near mile marker 31 on I-35, but Salazar exited the rig and tried to escape into the nearby brush, but was caught by agents. When agents opened the trailer, they discovered 108 people inside hailing from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic.