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A man is under arrest after Border Patrol agents on Saturday night discovered 59 people in the country illegally inside a tractor-trailer.
Agents arrested Jorge Javier Gonzalez, who was born in 1967, after he arrived at the checkpoint at approximately 10:55 p.m. in a blue Kenworth tractor-trailer.
During questioning, Gonzalez said he was delivering oranges to San Antonio, according to a criminal complaint.
After a K9 alerted to the trailer, agents referred him to secondary where authorities found 59 people in the trailer.
After his arrest, Gonzalez declined to speak with Homeland Security Investigations special agents.
One woman from the Dominican Republic told agents she crossed into the country on April 20 after her mother paid $22,500 for her smuggling arrangements.
She said an unidentified man instructed everyone to get inside the tractor-trailer, but said she was unable to identify the vehicle’s driver, according to the complaint.
A man from Guatemala, who was going to pay $18,000, said he was heading to Houston. However, he said he could not identify the driver because he was in a wooded area and it was dark when everyone got into the trailer.
A citizen of Guatemala, who was trying to reach Las Vegas, and a citizen of Honduras, who was trying to reach Georgia, also were unable to identify the driver, according to the complaint.
“One 15–year-old unaccompanied male juvenile was encountered in the trailer,” the complaint stated. “The material witnesses stated they were going to Houston, Texas before heading to (their) final destinations.”
During the investigation, special agents also learned that “surveillance operation officers” seized $16,000 in cash from Gonzalez at a truck stop in Fort Bend County on March 5 after a K9 alerted to the presence of narcotics.
“During a search of his tractor, deputies located several rubber banded stacks of the United States Currency in the cab area of the tractor,” the complaint stated. “The stacks of currency were rubber banded together in different denominations, consistent with the manner of illegal proceeds.”
Gonzalez was scheduled to make a first appearance Monday in McAllen federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.