CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico— A binational human smuggling network was caught transporting migrants, who had crossed the U.S-Mexico border, using fake FedEx vans.
Agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety followed what looked like a FedEx van spotted near the border in El Paso, Texas on June 9. After they stopped the vehicle, officers found 12 migrants crammed inside. On the same day at a different location, authorities located another van falsely designed to look like it was delivering for FedEx. It was carrying another group of 14 migrants, according to a press release by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Videos by VICE
Most of the migrants found were from Guatemala and Mexico, CBP said. Four men—two U.S. citizens and two Mexican nationals—were arrested on human smuggling charges, according to authorities.
The vans were painted white with the company’s logos plastered all over them, and looked exactly like real FedEx delivery trucks. The drivers were using FedEx’s black and purple uniforms, according to authorities.
The vans, according to the investigation, were not used to cross the border but rather to transport the migrants who were already on U.S. soil past Border Patrol checkpoints without being searched.
Days earlier, agents received an anonymous tip about the human smuggling operation, according to a source close to the investigation and who asked to remain anonymous.
“They were using FedEx because the company has a location very close to the actual [U.S. – Mexico] border, so agents are used to seeing FedEx vans pulling up around that area,” the source told VICE News.
Authorities are still trying to find out if the vans were prepared on the U.S. side of the border or in Mexico, and if there are more operating as part of the migrant smuggling scheme.
Human smugglers have found many creative ways to move migrants across the U.S-Mexico border and around the United States. In 2022a massive human smuggling ringrun by active U.S. Marines was discovered by federal authorities.
