Southwest
Texas woman arrested for allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants hidden inside box truck
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A Texas woman was arrested on Wednesday after Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers discovered 25 illegal immigrants crammed into the back of a box truck, hidden behind mattresses and inside a crawlspace.
DPS said 43-year-old Silvia Patricia Santamaria, of Houston, was arrested and charged with 25 counts of human smuggling and has since been booked into the Live Oak County Jail.
Just after 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a concerned citizen approached a DPS trooper at a truck stop along Interstate 37 in George West, Texas, regarding a minor crash that happened in the parking lot.
When the trooper contacted the driver of a white 2005 International box truck involved in the crash, later identified as Santamaria, she allegedly told the law enforcement official she was driving to Houston after picking up mattresses in Alton, Texas.
17 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS DISCOVERED CRAMMED IN RV, SEDAN IN SWELTERING ARIZONA HEAT
Texas DPS said Silvia Patricia Santamaria was driving a box truck that contained 25 illegal immigrants in the cargo area.
DPS said the trooper noticed inconsistencies in Santamaria’s travel plans and asked for consent to search the truck.
With assistance from the George West Police Department, the trooper discovered 25 illegal immigrants inside a small corner of the box truck who were attempting to hide behind 30 mattresses and inside a crawl space within the truck’s wall, DPS said.
DPS added that there was no ventilation inside the truck.
ALLEGED HUMAN SMUGGLERS ARRESTED IN TEXAS AFTER HIDING MIGRANTS INSIDE HOLLOWED HAY BALES
Texas DPS said Silvia Patricia Santamaria was driving a box truck that contained 25 illegal immigrants in the cargo area. (Texas DPS)
The group of immigrants comprised of 12 males, 12 females and an 11-year-old child.
All the migrants were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, India, Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, DPS said.
The illegal immigrants were removed from the truck and received medical evaluation before being referred to the U.S. Border Patrol.
DRIVER IN TEXAS MIGRANT SMUGGLING RUN THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF 53 PEOPLE PLEADS GUILTY
A wall along the southern border. (Fox News)
In 2022, San Antonio officials discovered 51 dead immigrants inside an abandoned tractor trailer.
Officials said at the time they believed the truck was abandoned after it experienced mechanical problems.
A city worker discovered the trailer after hearing a cry from inside the trailer.
At least 46 migrants were found dead at the scene and more died in hospitals.
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A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
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A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
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