A Texas woman was arrested on Tuesday after attempting to smuggle four illegal immigrants from the Rio Grande Valley into the Houston area, the Wharton County Sheriff’s Office said.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., a member of the WCSO Criminal Interdiction Unit initiated a traffic stop on a 2018 Dodge Journey for a traffic violation on US 59 in the area near Mikeska’s BBQ.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as 30-year-old Mayra Mendoza of Edinburg, Texas. The deputy observed multiple indicators of criminal activity during the course of the traffic stop, which led him to investigate further.
The deputy searched the vehicle and discovered four Spanish-speaking people hiding inside, and were being smuggled from the RGV, bound for Houston.
Three of the people were from Honduras, and one was from El Salvador, investigators said. Mendoza was arrested and taken into custody for smuggling of persons; a third-degree felony.
The people who were being smuggled were turned over to the custody of U.S. Border Patrol.
