Texas Department of Public Safety troopers intercepted a human smuggling load of 23 illegal aliens hidden in the cab of an 18-wheeler during a traffic stop in La Salle County, officials announced this week.
The driver, a 24-year-old Laredo man, now faces dozens of felony counts and the possibility of a lengthy prison term under Texas’ enhanced smuggling penalties.
On the evening of November 28, a DPS trooper pulled over a white Freightliner truck tractor on I-35 after seeing it drive on the improved shoulder, a traffic violation that often signals attempts to evade congestion or law enforcement.
During the stop, the trooper learned the driver, identified as John David Amaya of Laredo, was operating the commercial vehicle without a valid commercial driver license.
With assistance from a U.S. Border Patrol K-9 team, authorities inspected the cab and discovered 23 illegal aliens crammed into the truck’s sleeper compartment, hidden behind the driver’s area.
The individuals, who DPS said were from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, were taken into custody and referred to Border Patrol for federal immigration processing.
Amaya was arrested at the scene and charged with 23 counts of smuggling of persons, a state jail felony under Texas law.
The case is being handled as part of Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s multi-agency border security initiative that deploys state resources to disrupt cartel-linked smuggling of people and drugs along major corridors such as I-35.
DPS used the incident to highlight a 2023 law Abbott signed that significantly toughened penalties for human smuggling. That legislation created a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence for individuals convicted of smuggling of persons in Texas, meaning Amaya could face substantial prison time if found guilty on the new charges.
