June 23, 2021 210 PM
Brewster County –– Late Monday night, deputies with the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office detained 49 undocumented immigrants inside an RV on Highway 118 near the Big Bend National Park entrance after conducting a traffic stop on the vehicle.
Brewster Sheriff Ronny Dodson said that he did not know what the traffic stop was for but that his deputies had taken note of the RV earlier that day. “We had seen the vehicle earlier in Alpine and then it went down south and had been seen down there,” Dodson said. “It was odd because most people pull a trailer with them. These people appeared touring everything inside the RV.”
According to a Facebook post by the sheriff’s office, the undocumented immigrants were from Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. “They had removed some of the beds to make room. They were getting hot in there. It’s a rough way to travel,” Dodson said.
There were also two United States citizens onboard, one of whom was the driver. Two of the suspects fled the scene initially, but were later apprehended by authorities, according to the Facebook post.
Dodson said that the RV and its occupants were scouting out the nearby Border Patrol checkpoints before they were apprehended. “They were waiting to see which checkpoint was closed, that’s what one of them told us,” he said.
All of the undocumented immigrants were turned over to Border Patrol for processing. According to the Facebook post, “The smugglers are being investigated by Homeland Security, and the suspects who fled are being charged with evading arrest.”
