40 Immigrants Found In Tractor Trailer In Texas

Tuesday, February 20th 2007, 9:14 pm

By: News On 6

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) _ Forty Brazilian immigrants were found loaded inside a stifling tractor-trailer about 75 miles north of the Mexican border, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Border Patrol agents discovered the immigrants Saturday at a highway checkpoint in Falfurrias, officials said. A patrol dog alerted agents to the scent of people.

``As soon as those agents opened the back of the trailer, they could just feel the heat coming from inside,'' said Border Patrol spokesman Oscar Saldana.

The driver, a U.S. citizen, was charged with smuggling, but his identity was being withheld.

The immigrants _ including men, women and children _ are being processed for deportation, officials said.

The discovery comes less than a month after a jury sentenced truck driver Tyrone Williams to life in prison for a May 2003 smuggling attempt in which 19 immigrants died in his trailer.