SAN ANTONIO — Twelve migrants were detained and three suspects taken into custody after deputies pulled over a tractor-trailer in east Bexar County on Thursday night.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said his agency received information that an 18-wheeler "with human cargo aboard" was about to make its way through San Antonio. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) began surveillance around the area.
"Obviously we've all seen the cases where that's absolutely a life-threatening situation," Salazar said, referencing the June 2022 incident where 53 migrants were found dead or dying of heat-related illness in a sweltering tractor-trailer in southwest San Antonio. "So it was an urgent matter."
Authorities were eventually alerted to the vehicle entering the county near Von Ormy area and caught up with it in the area of Interstate 10 and South WW White on the east side.
Salazar said the trailer was being followed by "several trail vehicles, regular sedans that were following it," but it's unknown if they were part of the alleged human-smuggling operation. When deputies searched the trailer they detained 12 migrants – most of them believed to be from Mexico, and all males – whom Salazar said appeared mostly healthy.
Among the migrants were two boys, aged 15 and 16. All 12 are now in Border Patrol custody.
"We're pleased this worked out the way that it did," Salazar said. "The fact these folks are constantly being put in harm's way and being brought into our jurisdiction like this is something we can't allow to happen."
Three suspects were arrested in connection with the alleged operation. Erika Lisbeth Saldana, 22, and Esteban Escobar Pichardo, 43, face charges of smuggling of persons and engaging in organized criminal activity. Elias Eleazar Garcia, 23, also faces those charges and is also wanted for assault out of Laredo, according to the sheriff.
Investigators are still working to determine if the tractor-trailer was stolen and where it came from.
Last week, BCSO officials said they found eight victims inside a southwest-side stash house an apparent human-smuggling operation was being run out of. Three suspects were arrested in that case as well.
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