SAN ANTONIO — Between 86 and 90 migrants who entered the U.S. illegally were taken into custody after they were discovered on a train passing through South Texas on a scorching hot Friday afternoon, authorities said. Dozens of others managed to evade authorities.
Officials with the Kinney County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) said deputies noticed "12 to 15 people lying flat on the roof" of a train car after they were initially contacted by railroad dispatch around 1:30 p.m. According to KCSO, the migrants were traveling in gondola train cars designed for mass transport on a day when temperatures were nearing 100 degrees.
"If they'd gone all the way to Uvalde in those gondolas, they'd be dead by now," KCSO Chief Deputy Armando Garcia is quoted as saying in a social media release by the agency.
Officials said some of the people on the train began "jumping out and scattering into the brush" when authorities began searching it while in Spofford, about 2 miles west of Uvalde. EMS was called in as a precaution, but "only minor injuries were reported," mostly due to the heat.
Authorities believe between 50 and 100 manages to escape custody. South Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) was also called in to assist with treating the injured.
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