Border inspectors found three men hiding in a secret compartment built into a SUV.
Officer Javier Garcia told Chula Vista Today that a U.S. driver was crossing the border at the San Ysidro port of entry in a 2007 SUV and the inspector at the gate asked to check the rear.
When the inspector picked up the spare tire, he saw a man, so he called other Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
The agents detained the driver and took the vehicle to a secure area where they found a total of three men of Mexican nationality, ages 21, 24, and 29, entering the country without authorization.
The vehicle is seized and the driver and migrants detained, Garcia said.
CBP San Diego Field Operations Director Sidney Aki warned in this case that “smugglers will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even if it means risking human life.”
Aki also commented that "a person's life is always in danger when smugglers use specially constructed compartments to smuggle people across the border."
