CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – A Mexican trucker must serve 2½ years in a U.S. prison for trying to smuggle 53 immigrants in a refrigerated trailer through a South Texas border checkpoint.
Luis Valero-Carrizales was sentenced Thursday in Corpus Christi. The 39-year-old Valero-Carrizales in April pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants.
Prosecutors say Valero-Carrizales was in the U.S. on a visitor visa when he was arrested in December as the immigrants were found in the truck trailer at the Falfurrias checkpoint. The temperature inside was 54 degrees (12.22 Celsius).
The immigrants were detained. Authorities didn’t report anyone injured.
Valero-Carrizales is expected to be deported after his release from federal prison.
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