51 migrants discovered in chilly trailer after driver without CDL or work visa acts strangely at checkpoint

51 migrants were discovered under a false floor in a tractor trailer after the driver was noted to be acting strangely during interactions with border agents. 

50-year-old truck driver Greibin Alexis Pinot-Duarte arrived at the Freer Checkpoint on Highway 59 in Texas just after midnight on Saturday, November 29th. 

According to Laredo Morning Times, agents engaged in a regular interaction with Pinot-Duarte at the border checkpoint, but grew suspicious when he appeared nervous and started acting strangely. Agents say he volunteered information unprompted, tried “thrusting” paperwork at them through the window, repeatedly told them he was hauling bananas, and even claimed to recognize one of the agents from a previous border interaction. That agent had not been stationed at the checkpoint in two months.

A K9 agent then alerted to the trailer during an exterior inspection, prompting agents to direct the truck to secondary inspection. Agents opened the trailer to discover a load of produce sitting on a plywood floor, where human silhouettes could be seen. Agents lifted to boxes and discovered a false compartment made of wood, where 51 migrants were hiding in temperatures of 55 degrees. 

Agents say that many of the migrants lacked jackets, a few were shivering, and that the group was tightly packed in an area that only allowed one person to exit at a time. Once removed from the trailer and taken to the checkpoint, all migrants admitted to entering the country illegally. 

Agents determined that the tractor trailer had originated in the Rio Grande Valley. Pinot-Duarte did not have a CDL, driver’s license, or work visa, and told agents that he had been offered $1,500 to drive the trailer to Houston. He also said that this was his second trip this week. Pinot-Duarte has since been taken into custody and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.