A woman in Texas insisted on utilizing a mattress truck to transport mattresses. However, police officers sensed something was wrong and decided to investigate. They found 25 illegal migrants packed into the box truck, resembling sardines.
Texas woman caught with 25 migrants in mattress truck
You never know what they’re transporting. A mattress truck might not be transporting mattresses. For example, it may be filled with 25 illegal migrants living in unsafe conditions.
Something seemed weird about the box truck in Texas, so officers conducted a traffic stop. The driver, Silvia Patricia Santamaria, 43, claimed she was transporting mattresses.
She stated she had picked up a load in the border town of Alton and was on her way to Houston. They decided to investigate the load and opened the back of the vehicle.
Police officers cleared 30 mattresses before discovering 25 illegal migrants battling to breathe in the hot heat. Squeezed inside a crawl area in the box truck wall, they faced little or no ventilation.
According to the New York Post, one cop quickly dispatched medics to examine the condition of each individual. Officers also distributed water bottles to prevent dehydration and heat illness.
Santamaria was promptly arrested and charged with 25 counts of human smuggling. To the best of my knowledge, no one sustained any injuries in the rear of the mattress truck.
However, the mattress truck exposed men, women, and children to hazardous situations. The Texas heat and lack of ventilation could have led to suffocation.
