A South Texas sheriff says the discovery of 86 immigrants in the back of a tractor-trailer represents one of the largest cases of human trafficking he's encountered in more than 30 years.
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said that some inside the trailer punched a hole in the roof to escape when the rig was pulled over.
The U.S. Border Patrol says a Texas trooper stopped the tractor-trailer late Tuesday near Raymondville, about 40 miles from the border, following a call about suspicious activity.
Officials say two suspected smugglers have been arrested.
Authorities say the people entered the country illegally and came from Guatemala, Honduras and other countries. The youngest was 3 years old. They were hiding behind crates of rotten produce.
“We’ve seen an uptick of all kinds of smuggling, Jose Rodriguez with the Texas Department of Public Safety says. "It's very concerning when we are dealing with people because of the summer month are here and off course the heat gets up there."
So far this year, there has been a hundred large groups of illegals found in trucks. 1,400 people have been rescued in those cases.
"The dangers of crossing this border are multi-faceted it's not just the trek coming up through Central America, through Mexico up here, there is a lot of risk afterwards," Carla Provost with the U.S. Border Patrol says.
Last July, 10 people died inside a sweltering trailer. Dozens more where found fighting for their lives in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walmart.
Border agents say if changes aren't make at the border, more people could die in their search for a new life in America.
"What you saw here with this case is really, it just points to the lack of technology and infrastructure on our border," Manuel Padilla, Jr. of the U.S. Border Patrol says.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.