Webinar Replay #57: Important information from U.S. Border Patrol to truck drivers

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Steve Kessler: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Infinit-I Workforce Solutions Fast Forward Webinar Series. My name’s Steve Kessler. I’m gonna be the host for the program. Today.

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Steve Kessler: we’ve got a really really important program today. We have some gentlemen from the U.S. Border Patrol that are going to speak to us about

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Steve Kessler: some of the issues that truckers and trucking companies may experience at our borders. And some of these are very serious issues. So I appreciate y’all taking some time this morning to join us. You might wanna just jump on the chat that box down there, and tell us who you are where you where you’re looking at us from, and maybe the name of your company.

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Steve Kessler: And, by the way, during the program, if you think of a question you’d like to

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Steve Kessler: ask please type that into the chat, and we’ll try to get to those questions after our our agents here get done with their presentation this morning. While you all are jumping on the chat, I wanted to introduce you all again to Mark Rhea.

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Steve Kessler: He’s my co-host here, most of you probably know Mark from past webinars, but he’s a 35-year veteran in truck transportation at the executive level.

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Steve Kessler: Mark’s a license CDL holder, and licensed inspector. He’s a certified director of safety and is very much involved in trucking and transportation safety around the country.

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Steve Kessler: So having said that, let me introduce our our guests for the program today. First of all, I’d like to introduce Tomas Carrillo. Tomas, I believe, is a Supervisory Border Patrol Agent.

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Steve Kessler: and he’s gonna be joined by Arlo De Los Santos, who is a Border Patrol Agent, and they’re joining us from Laredo right down on the border. So welcome, gentlemen, appreciate having you on this morning, and we’re very excited to hear what you have to tell us. I’m sure our audience is excited to know some important information from the border.

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Tomas Carrillo: Take it away, Tomas.

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Tomas Carrillo: Well, first of all, thank you guys for having us. We do appreciate us being able to do some outreach with the community

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Tomas Carrillo: lot of what we do is we started a few years back in 2008 with the Texas Hold’Em initiative.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now, what was originally the way it started was to try to get the community assist in helping us combat alien smuggling and alien trafficking that happens in the area. So what we ended up doing was we partner with DPS, and we found a law.

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Tomas Carrillo: and that law assistant cancellation of CDLs. But more than that, it also provides us a platform to do, outreach and educate the public about

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Tomas Carrillo: things that happen in the area and things to look out for. So the Texas Hold’Em initiative started in 2008

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Tomas Carrillo: in conjunction with DPS like I said.

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and the main goal of it was to do outreach and kind of limit the ability for people to do or commit human trafficking human smuggling in the areas.

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Tomas Carrillo: So, as like I said before, the main goal of it was to reduce it in general between contraband and human smuggling. That’s something that is seen, especially in these areas.

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And so.

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Tomas Carrillo: as it’s progressed over the years, we have done a lot of outreach with several different organizations, we’ve done a lot of outreach with security personnel like yourselves.

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Tomas Carrillo: and it has helped because we have gotten more reports, and it does assist in reducing some level of the smuggling in the area. But, like I said, we were talking prior to this. There is about 12,000 tractor trailers that go through this area daily.

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Tomas Carrillo: So. being one of the largest land ports in the US. It stays really, really busy on our end. So advising yourselves and advising being able to advise the drivers that are working for you, of the dangers and things that happen in this area.

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Tomas Carrillo: and educating them and advising them things that they can do ultimately will help with border security as a whole. So really this has kind of evolved into a very holistic approach to law enforcement and security as far as the border goes.

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Tomas Carrillo: So

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Tomas Carrillo: like I said, this is gonna kinda cover. I think I’ve known this a little bit to as far as the presentation, but it is to increase, reduce smuggling, and to partner with the community as far as reducing alien smuggling in the area. Those are the main objectives of our of our text holder

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Tomas Carrillo: presentation. Now we went into this a little bit earlier in the whenever I was talking, was the transportation code.

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Tomas Carrillo: So we have partnered with DPS with this law, and what happens is whenever people get caught alien smuggling. or if they get caught smuggling some sort of contraband.

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Tomas Carrillo: their CDL. Gets canceled for life.

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Tomas Carrillo: So they go through a process

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Tomas Carrillo: after they get caught. Not only are they facing the jail time, the prison time.

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Tomas Carrillo: but they’ll go through a process to where their CDL will be canceled. And that’s something that our team does here. So in general, the Texas Hold’Em initiative has been a two-prong approach. So the first part is going to be the outreach portion of it, and the second part will be the enforcement action of it.

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Tomas Carrillo: So it doesn’t just follow the initial enforcement which is jail time. But it does give somebody that cancellation of their CDL. So now they’re messing with their own livelihood.

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Tomas Carrillo: So we know that a lot of the drivers go out. They spend so much money, or even the companies spend so much money for them to get their CDLs. Now that person can no longer work in the industry ever again.

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Tomas Carrillo: and it doesn’t matter what state they’re coming from.

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Tomas Carrillo: The law here in Texas and through the law in general, they’re able. They can be from another State, and the CDL. Is still going to get canceled for life and that’s kind of the way that’s worked out.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now. As I said before, the alien smuggling it ranges. It depends on what type of alien smuggling that they’re doing, but they can look up to from 0 to 5 years 0 to 10 years.

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Tomas Carrillo: Or they can even look at life in prison. and one of the things that we want to prevent the most is tragedies from happening.

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Tomas Carrillo: and

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Tomas Carrillo: we don’t have to go too far into the past to see some of those tragedies. We had one that ended up in San Antonio, where 50 some noncitizens actually passed away from the heat of those trailers.

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Tomas Carrillo: and that’s some of the dangers that happen with smuggling

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Tomas Carrillo: a lot of the times. Whenever people are in those trailers, those are some of those dangers, and ultimately not participating in it, is actually saving, could save a life because these people are walking for days on end,

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Tomas Carrillo: is people are walking without water for days on end.

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and a lot of times we don’t know what kind of condition these people are in.

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Tomas Carrillo: So a lot of times we’ll catch people, and they’re they need significant medical attention whenever we’re encountering some of these immigrants. And for us it’s not necessarily the immigrants, but it’s

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Tomas Carrillo: also the alien smuggling and organizations that are putting people up to do this. Now, the alien spokesman or organizations down here.

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how we can cover that here in a bit

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Tomas Carrillo: down here they go through a process. They do try to recruit the drivers.

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Tomas Carrillo: and we’ll delve into that a little bit more here in a bit. But one of the things that I do want to say is, they try to recruit those drivers

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Tomas Carrillo: to do the alien smuggling on their behalf, so they’ll offer whatever money, whatever bias for whatever it is to try to recruit that driver

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Tomas Carrillo: so that way they can move the person or product up north

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Tomas Carrillo: past our checkpoints passed, our enforcement actions

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pay the driver, but they don’t necessarily know what the drivers do like. They don’t necessarily

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Tomas Carrillo: want to be involved because they don’t want to face the consequences, which is the main reason they’re trying to recruit somebody else to do it.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now, what ends up happening is these drivers they get caught. There’s an arrest, and there’s a seizure

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Tomas Carrillo: now depending on what they’re smuggling in. The seizure can be even of the truck, so it can affect the company itself. So we do seize the vehicle after the initial arrest.

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Tomas Carrillo: and then there’s a process that the companies go through to. Either try to get it back, or it ends up. Staying seized. But there’s a whole process that follows

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Tomas Carrillo: now it goes. That case will go through the court system.

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Tomas Carrillo: Then, once the conviction happens, there’s a form that’s filed with the DPS.

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Tomas Carrillo: and the cancellation will have been following that.

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So

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Tomas Carrillo: I touch base a little bit on the recruitment side of it. Now the recruitment here in Laredo, it happens in various places the recruitment happens at especially places where there’s drivers, or there’s hotels, or there’s gas stations.

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Tomas Carrillo: A lot of times it happens at the Loves. We have one here at our 13-mile marker.

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Tomas Carrillo: We have several out other major gas stations in the area that are basically meant for the trucking industry. And what happens is there’ll be a scout scouting around trying to recruit a driver

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Tomas Carrillo: to see if he can convince that driver to move up north.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now. one of the things that we do provide, and I’ll provide it at the end of the presentation we provide a 1-800 number that can be called 24/7, and if there is suspicious activity, or if someone is trying to actively recruit.

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Tomas Carrillo: then call that number with any type of suspicious activity. And if it’s an emergency, of course 911 is the number to call. But whenever it’s very important for us to reach out to the drivers and advise them that their pre-departure checks are super important.

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Tomas Carrillo: and the reason we say that they’re super important is because those pre-departure checks can kind of prevent some of those things from happening. So whenever they go before they take off from the gas station they go look at the windjammers

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Tomas Carrillo: look at the doors, make sure everything’s locked, make sure nothing was tampered with and even checking the seals can help prevent some of those things

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Tomas Carrillo: from happening. When they’re not recruited, because we’ve had it to the point where

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Tomas Carrillo: people will get up into the windjammer of the tractor. and that’s how they’ll try to head up north, and then the recruiter or the smuggler will fall that tractor trader up north, and then as soon as the truck stops again.

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Tomas Carrillo: they’ll take those people out of the windjammer and then smuggle them wherever they’re trying to get to.

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Tomas Carrillo: That becomes very dangerous, because we’ve had it to the point where people go in, though in general. but they fall out on the highway and ultimately end up passing away from it.

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Tomas Carrillo: So

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doing. The pre departure checks, especially in these areas, especially prior to the checkpoint.

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Tomas Carrillo: is extremely important, and that’s something that we do want to convey to the drivers that these things happen. and that these things can happen. Now, as far as threats or things like that that we’ve heard in the past.

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Tomas Carrillo: I have yet to see a situation where the driver is not recruited, being that the fact that there’s 12,000 people coming through here daily. If someone says no, they just move on to the next. Essentially.

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Tomas Carrillo: because there’s plenty of options. So we haven’t really seen it to where there’s been threats on somebody’s life that they have to drive. No, they have other options.

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Tomas Carrillo: they say, Okay, move on, and they’ll move on to the next person. And what they try to do is they try to recruit drivers that are not necessarily from the area because they want to recruit somebody that doesn’t know any better.

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Tomas Carrillo: So they’re trying to recruit somebody that’s coming from Houston or coming from Dallas or coming from somewhere outside of Laredo, because they know that they should be able to recruit this person.

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Tomas Carrillo: So

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Tomas Carrillo: some of the ways that they do conceal them and we’ll touch base a little bit is they’ll go through the windjammers. This one. That picture on the bottom is gonna be a wind jammer

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Tomas Carrillo: where they’re recruiting people to hide in there. They’ll also go through little hatches. The little side doors as well.

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Tomas Carrillo: or even in the undercarriage of the bed. Now, whenever they’re in the cab, usually the driver’s involved.

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Tomas Carrillo: People don’t just get into someone’s tractor without the driver not knowing. But

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Tomas Carrillo: whenever someone’s participating in this, they don’t know necessarily who they have or where they’re taking them.

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Tomas Carrillo: And that’s where it gets really dangerous, because.

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Tomas Carrillo: like these, these 2 girls are in the in the bed of the truck.

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Tomas Carrillo: You don’t know what kind of trade, and that’s the thing where we’re at. We don’t know if it’s human trafficking, human smuggling. or if they could be being placed into a

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Tomas Carrillo: something even worse. We don’t know the age of the girls.

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Tomas Carrillo: We don’t know where they’re going or what type of organization is small enough. That could be sex trafficking as well involved in there. But in our end we catch it in transit. So we catch it while it’s moving. So

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Tomas Carrillo: up until that point we don’t know what type of organization, or what is happening from there. or where they were supposed to go.

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Mark Rhea: No, no, Tomas, you also would not necessarily know what kind of physical condition they might be in.

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Tomas Carrillo: not from the standpoint of this. No, if someone’s smuggling, the person that’s smuggling them is not going to know what kind of physical condition they’ve been in.

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Tomas Carrillo: Dehydrated. There could be all kinds of problems.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yes, essentially, and that does. That is a concern.

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Tomas Carrillo: We’ve had them to where we’ve actually had to do pretty much life-saving measures on people that we’ve taken out of after out of a tractor trader because it gets hot in those places.

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especially in Laredo and the 100-degree weather it’s it gets really, really hot.

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Tomas Carrillo: So these pictures are prime examples.

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Tomas Carrillo: All these come from the checkpoint that we have on on the 29-mile marker, and there’s plenty more that we can get from. But these pictures are people being smuggled in the trailer

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Tomas Carrillo: or in the cab.

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Tomas Carrillo: and this is going to be one of the X-rays of people inside the trailer.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now, the people inside the trailer gets extremely hot, and that’s one of the things that we want. Advice is, it gets really dangerous for these people, and the likelihood of somebody passing away from dehydration increases tremendously from them being in the back of these trailers.

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Tomas Carrillo: It’s as if you’re sitting in a sauna at the gym for hours on end.

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Tomas Carrillo: You’re gonna lose weight. And eventually you’re gonna dehydrate completely. Is there? 130 degrees or more? Not only because it’s hot in there, because the weather’s hot. Additionally, because of all the body heat of the people that are also in there with that person.

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So it’s something to be cognizant about. It’s something to

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Tomas Carrillo: to be aware. And that’s kind of one of the things that we’re trying to convey is those lifesaving measures is really just not allowing them the avenue of smuggling through those those avenues.

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Tomas Carrillo: Another thing that we do see, and this is more for the security personnel is clone vehicles. We do see clone vehicles of them trying to take someone else’s logo or someone else’s.

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Tomas Carrillo: basically mode of transportation. The way to do it like this tanker truck was a clone vehicle. In particular, it was meant to see look like one of the oil-filled trucks.

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and there was thousands of pounds of marijuana in it.

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Tomas Carrillo: So it does happen in us, our partnership with the industry, and if anybody here would like to share any information that their company does specifically could assist agents in preventing some of these smuggling

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Tomas Carrillo: attempts with their own company logos.

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Tomas Carrillo: And a prime example of this is one of the companies that we work with. Like yourselves.

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Tomas Carrillo: They only use Nebraska plates.

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Tomas Carrillo: That’s one of the they’re mostly all their trucks are registered out of Nebraska. So anytime we saw a Texas plate that didn’t match the truck. We could see the truck with that Texas plate, and we know it’s a clone.

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Tomas Carrillo: And that did happen, and we’re able to catch it, and

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Tomas Carrillo: we’re able to arrest the smuggler and the rest of people that were involved in that one. So that’s something to be cognizant. And through the partnership that’s something that does help

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Tomas Carrillo: us kind of eliminate some of those vehicles and help us to vet those vehicles a lot quicker whenever we’re dealing with them at the checkpoint. Is that partnership.

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Tomas Carrillo: So I welcome any of those types of tips with any area as trucks, but it’s usually those quick little ones like, hey, these trucks only have this that usually help out quite a bit or tremendously whenever

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Tomas Carrillo: we’re working the checkpoint, and we’re seeing all those trucks we can see which ones are more legit than others.

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Tomas Carrillo: so like, I said it was two-pronged approach.

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Tomas Carrillo: We covered a little bit about the cancellation of the CDLs for life, but our other side of it is the driver training.

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Tomas Carrillo: That’s something that we do a lot of outreach, and that we’re trying to do as much as we can is educate these drivers on things that happen in these areas. Also, we want to comply with the FMCSA regulations here in Texas and try to limit, advise companies or drivers to try to limit as many stops as they have near the border, or here in these areas.

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and then always perform those pre departed checks.

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Tomas Carrillo: Those are probably the key to the whole thing is the pre- departure checks because they can’t take advantage of somebody, even if they’re not willing to do it.

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And that phone number the 1-800 number, that 1-800-343-1994 number.

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Tomas Carrillo: That number

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Tomas Carrillo: ties directly to one of our operation centers here in Laredo. It’s here local 24/7 number.

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Tomas Carrillo: and that can be reporting any type of suspicious activity in the area. So if they see something that hey? Doesn’t quite look right. They’re able to call that number and report it

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Tomas Carrillo: to ourselves, and we’ll have somebody respond.

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Mark Rhea: Tomas. If one of the drivers gets approached at a truck stop in Mile Marker 13.

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Mark Rhea: Should they call that number? Or should they contact their dispatch to call that number, or what would you advise someone that gets approached and says, No, I don’t want to do this, but I want to report this to somebody.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yeah, I mean, we could even it kind of depends on what you guys companies, the driver can call himself,

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Tomas Carrillo: or whatever your policies are. If they’re gonna be calling their dispatch to call us. We’re gonna be asking some key questions of like, what were they driving where they look like? Where they’re at?

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Tomas Carrillo: Those will be some of the main questions that we’re gonna ask, or if they saw any type of license plate, or even if it’s a partial license plate.

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things of that nature? Those are those questions that we’ll need.

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Tomas Carrillo: So drivers more than welcome to call. But if they feel better having someone else call. If they feel better having someone else call so

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Tomas Carrillo: they can have that person call and give us the description following that. So that’s one of the things kind of depends on what your companies are advising their drivers to do if they feel better that the dispatch calls us

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Tomas Carrillo: really on our end. It doesn’t matter too much as long as we get the information we’re able to react to it.

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Tomas Carrillo: But it kind of depends on the comfort level of the driver. If he’s in a comfortable spot where he’s in his truck by himself, and he feels comfortable calling us. He’s more than welcome to.

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Tomas Carrillo: and they can stay anonymous when they call that number.

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Tomas Carrillo: They don’t have to give any names, any information if they don’t want to.

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Tomas Carrillo: so I feel like those are some of the main

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Tomas Carrillo: points that we do would like to get across. I hope that answers your question, Mark. Yes. Well, I just you know

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Mark Rhea: I wouldn’t want to put the driver’s in. I wouldn’t want to compound his problem

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by him calling. And then maybe somebody taking retribution against him for making that call.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yeah? And then, like I said it, it’s gonna be dependent on like where he’s at his comfort level. It’ll be a judgment call on his part, but

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we will send somebody out there to go check it out and see what’s going on in those areas.

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Tomas Carrillo: And as long as he’s in a comfortable space and a safe place, and by all means, if it’s emergency, of course. Call 911 immediately.

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Steve Kessler: Tomas. Sorry to interrupt you. That phone number that you have published there is that strictly for your Laredo location? Or would that number be something they could call, no matter where.

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Steve Kessler: what border they’re at, where they’re at. El Paso, for example.

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Steve Kessler: Would that still help? Or is there a different number there, do you know?

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Tomas Carrillo: Okay, so as far as the contact goes.

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Tomas Carrillo: that’s our operation center. And if it’s information that pertains to another station or another sector. What ends up happening is we’ll take that information and we’ll pass it to that other sector. So it’s okay for them to call that number. That’s gonna be Laredo specific. That’s gonna be here locally.

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Tomas Carrillo: But if they’re not El Paso, for example, and they want to report something, we can get that information. We’ll take that information.

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Tomas Carrillo: and then we’ll share with El Paso sector and send it to them.

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Tomas Carrillo: That information, or we’ll just refer them to that other station or the other sector

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Tomas Carrillo: for them to assist.

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Steve Kessler: That’s great. That’s good to know, because they may only have this one number, and they may be at a different location. So that’s good to know

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Tomas Carrillo: they’ll be at least be able to share that information with another sector, and then they’ll dispatch

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Tomas Carrillo: to the proper station, or wherever it needs to go to because we have multiple stations throughout our because we’re divided into sectors.

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Tomas Carrillo: So the Laredo sector expands all the way through up to Dallas. Technically.

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Tomas Carrillo: So we stretch pretty far. But of course we’re on down here.

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Tomas Carrillo: But, like I said, we’ll take that information and we’ll share it with the proper sector.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now, one of the things that people can go on to is they can go to the DPS website. This pamphlet will come up if they want to get any more information on on the initiative itself.

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but they’re able to log in and and look at that anytime that they want.

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Tomas Carrillo: and also provide some other numbers. If you see here in the corner

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Tomas Carrillo: provides other phone numbers that are are there specific tool sectors as well. If they need to get those information.

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Tomas Carrillo: So like kind of answer, a little bit more, we’ll pass it on to those numbers if they were to call us.

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Tomas Carrillo: Meantime, if they call us, we’ll get that information. We’ll just send it to the proper sector of where it used to go.

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Tomas Carrillo: Now, one of the things that we do have, and this is something for the drivers and for security personnel is

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Tomas Carrillo: we do have a Texas Hold’Em initiative video. So this video is meant mainly strictly for the drivers so that way the companies can train their drivers on things that go on here in the sector. It’s pretty comprehensive. It covered a lot of stuff that I covered already.

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Tomas Carrillo: and then it goes into depth a little bit more.

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Tomas Carrillo: So what we can do is I can play the video for you guys, and then we’ll be finishing up the presentation pretty much after that. And we’ll answer any questions that you guys may have.

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Mark Rhea: And, Steve, this video would be available to all our clients right through our platform.

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Mark Rhea: You’re on. You’re on mute, I think.

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Steve Kessler: to make this available through our system. So if our clients are out there, you should be able to access it and assign it out

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Steve Kessler: through our system. That way. You can put some test questions behind it, maybe to make sure they actually read it and understood what they saw. And then you’ve got a

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Steve Kessler: a good permanent record of them having watch this video, and I would highly recommend this be something that’s done with some frequency throughout the year, at least once or twice every year.

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Tomas Carrillo: Okay, you can go ahead, Tomas.

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Tomas Carrillo: Like I said, this video is for you guys to use. It’s available on YouTube. It’s just called type in Texas Hold’Em initiative. And it’ll come right up.

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Tomas Carrillo: If you just type up text sold them by itself, you’re gonna get a bunch of different ways of how to play the card game. You gotta put in initiative. Otherwise you’re gonna be a professional card game player.

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the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection is committed to gaining operational control of our nation’s borders to achieve this goal. One of our enforcement priorities is denying smugglers the use of commercial vehicles as a means to transport undocumented aliens and contraband into the United States.

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As part of the transportation industry, you’ve likely become familiar with United States border patrol traffic checkpoints. It’s the policy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use border patrol checkpoints to restrict the routes of passage from the border area, creating additional deterrents to the initial illegal entry checkpoints greatly enhance the Border Patrol’s ability to carry out the national objectives of the Border Patrol which are

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to apprehend terrorists and terrorist weapons illegally entering the US. To deter illegal entries through improved enforcement. To detect, apprehend, and deter smugglers of humans, drugs and other contraband.

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to use smart border technology and to reduce crime in border communities improving the quality of life. The US. Border Patrol has strategically placed immigration traffic checkpoints on all highways leading north, which are located within 100 air miles of the US Mexican border. The objective of the Texas Hold’Em initiative is to reduce the smuggling of undocumented aliens and contraband and tractor trailers through increased community awareness of smuggling penalties and an enhanced partnership with the Department of Public Safety to disqualify smugglers from commercial drivers license use.

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This training is part of a public outreach campaign which aims to share valuable information with you. The transportation industry. the Texas Hold’Em initiative began in Laredo, Texas, which is located on Interstate 35, the primary trade route connecting Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

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There is a common misconception within the transportation industry. That smuggling is a relatively minor crime with minimal penalties. But in reality it is a felony to knowingly transport undocumented aliens or narcotics.

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So what do alien smuggling and drug trafficking organizations do when they want you to smuggle for them, they may approach you at a truck, stop a parking lot, or any number of locations near the southern border of the United States. They may entice you to smuggle by offering large amounts of cash, drugs, or prostitutes.

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Smugglers know the risks and penalties involved in transporting aliens or narcotics, they will not take that risk themselves. How does border patrol enforcement affect you as a truck driver? Drivers arrested with aliens or narcotics will be detained and interviewed while case paperwork is completed. Drivers will then be processed through the court system, and will receive due process. If the court finds the subject guilty, the defendant will be issued. A formal notice of conviction.

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Once convicted, a DIC 17 will be completed and sent to the Department of Public Safety for CDL disqualification.

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The charge principally used in these cases is 8 USC 1324 (a)(1)(A)(ii) which defines transporting as any person who knowingly transports illegal aliens in furtherance into the United States.

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There are 2 types of smuggling, nonprofit and profit. Nonprofit smuggling is one in which no money is gained, and the driver is generally smuggling family members or associates. This crime carries a sentence of up to 5 years imprisonment. Profit smuggling is when there is monetary gain. The sentence ranges higher in these cases

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with a possibility of up to 10 years imprisonment drivers who cause serious bodily harm to another individual during the course of smuggling, can face penalties of up to 30 years imprisonment. Drivers who cause the death of an alien or others will be subject to penalties ranging from life in prison to the death penalty.

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Additionally, a fine of $250,000, and the seizure of the commercial conveyance applied to all 4 instances of alien smuggling. What crimes under Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations will disqualify you from your commercial driver’s license through the Texas Hold’Em initiative.

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The statutes are found in the FMCSA Handbook Section: 1572.103 and include, but are not limited to smuggling, immigration violations, distribution of possession with the intent to distribute, or importation of a controlled substance.

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Under the Texas transportation code sub chapter HD. For crimes that are committed in the State of Texas. A person is disqualified from driving a commercial motor vehicle for life. If that person uses a motor vehicle in the commission of a felony involving

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the manufacturer distribution or dispensing of a controlled substance; possession with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense a controlled substance; and if the person uses a motor vehicle in the commission of an offense under 8 USC 1324, that involves the transportation, concealment or harboring of an alien.

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So just how will smuggling affect you?

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Smuggling has affected many citizens within the transportation industry. Vehicles involved in smuggling activity may be subject to seizure. Subjects involved in smuggling activities may be detained throughout the investigation.

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and vehicles involved in smuggling activities may be towed and impounded by a third party at the owner’s expense.

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Let’s take a look at the different kinds of smuggling cases. The border patrol faces on a daily basis. This segment of the training will highlight the reasons why pre-departure self-checks are so important for drivers in the transportation industry. It will demonstrate the lengths to which alien and narcotic smuggling organizations will go to smuggle their contraband.

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First, let’s take a look at marijuana, the most common contraband drug trafficking organizations, or DTOs try to smuggle into the United States marijuana may be wrapped in large or small bundles.

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The marijuana is often concealed in plastic packing, wrap, packaging, tape trash bags, burlap sacks, suitcases, or duffle bags. Sometimes the narcotics are concealed within the commodity, or will be covered with tar, coffee, or other chemicals to try to mask their distinctive odor.

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Smuggling organizations will exploit anyone that gives in to their recruiting tactics. Age, race, and sex don’t play a part in the smuggler’s choice when selecting a driver, since anyone who would drive for them would be a good recruit.

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Even if you’re not from the border region, you should become familiar with your work area and your conveyance. This image of an elderly lady, intercepted at a port of entry, demonstrates the complete disregard DTOs have for human rights and their use of extreme smuggling tactics.

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Men and women, young and old, and from every cultural background should be aware of smuggling issues along the southwest border region of the Federal and State Motor Carrier regulations and know there is a 0 tolerance policy for smuggling in today’s American transportation industry.

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Since June 2008, when the Texas Hold’Em initiative began, men and women have been sitting through trainings just like today’s. Yet some drivers still choose to smuggle. Money has convinced many of them to smuggle even after hearing about the life-altering consequences. In all these cases the drivers never enjoyed a penny of their much anticipated payoff, since all currency is seized by the US. Government.

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We recommend drivers always check their seals and bills of lading, verifying that all information is correct. Trailer length and weight are important factors when trying to pinpoint any discrepancies during your daily duties. An empty trailer that weighs in heavier than normal, should serve as an indicator of something suspicious.

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You work day in and day out with your commercial vehicle equipment, and it’s recommended you become familiar with the standard weights and lengths of your vehicles. A lot of companies we visit with even mandate drivers to provide a padlock for the trailer when it’s traveling empty to ensure it’s not tampered with in transit or during driver breaks.

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A 53 foot drive-an trailer that’s not holding an entire load due to missing floor space should serve as a possible indicator of a false wall compartment when drivers perform their pre-deparch security self-checks. We also recommend inspecting all toolboxes, external storage areas and external windjammer openings for signs of intruders.

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These pictures show examples of how illegal aliens can position themselves in the wind jammer area above the cab. It may be difficult to see into the windjammer prior to departure, but signs of an intruder should be easy to recognize.

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Look to see if there are footprints, smudges, or other types of marks left behind from people climbing into the windjammer. Illegal aliens may also climb into less expected areas like toolboxes and side cab compartments, if left unlocked. Remember always to lock all doors before leaving your cab unattended.

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When leaving your truck to take a break, even if only for a few moments it’s highly recommended you always lock the cabin doors to protect your vehicle from intruders. The inside cabin of your truck offers many hiding spots for unwelcome passengers or contraband

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Prior to departure be sure to check closets, storage compartments, cabinets under bed storage and bunk bed areas. items out of place or missing items could be indicators someone has entered your truck cab and placed an item or people inside.

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In this case we ask you to consider what would have happened to the subjects if the driver needed to brake suddenly the subjects would likely have been killed. Under the pressure of the shifting load. The driver would have faced life in prison up to the death penalty. Had the aliens died while under his care.

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In this instance the smuggler had no regard for the infant’s safety. The child was not placed in any safety restraining device.

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This subject was being smuggled in the rear section of the trailer, and she was 8 months pregnant. She was lying down in the hottest portion of the trailer and could only hold on to the top frame. Take a look at this underbed storage area.

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We ask you today. What types of chemicals and solvents do you keep in that storage area. though solvents, if inhaled, could cause serious bodily harm to any person hiding in the underbed compartment. The driver, as you learn today, could face up to 20 years in federal prison for causing serious bodily harm to another.

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Another important factor in this case is the age of the girls shown you as drivers should now pause to think about the smugglers intentions. Could this child possibly be part of the sex trafficking or child pornography trades? Could this child have possibly been kidnapped?

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Our partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation led to the donation of 2 highway signs which have been placed at the US. Border patrol checkpoints located on Interstate 35, and US Highway 83.

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The signs display the number of CDLs disqualified to date since the Texas Holdup initiative began in June 2008, remember, don’t become a number. DHS encourages all citizens to report suspicious activity to local law enforcement or 911.

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To learn more about the Texas Hold’Em initiative visit the Texas Department of Public Safety website.

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America it’s time to turn the page and choose a new leader.

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Steve Kessler: Wow, that’s a that’s a pretty amazing video.

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I even looked at it before. And I think it got to me more this time than it did last time.

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Tomas Carrillo: that that’s obviously something our clients need to share with their drivers and their dispatch. I guess their entire organization. I would think, Steve.

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Steve Kessler: yeah, absolutely. Now, obviously. part of what we do here at at Vertical Alliance Group and the Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is a platform for training.

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Steve Kessler: And we’ve got some some folks here today that are not our customers. So I’m gonna pop up a little poll here on the screen.

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Steve Kessler: If you’re interested in getting a demo of our system, or want a way where you can quickly get access to this training and document that people have seen it, we’d be happy to reach out to you and

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Steve Kessler: make sure that you can get access to this information, and

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Steve Kessler: have a nice convenient way to train your drivers, and also document that they’ve completed the training

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Steve Kessler: so

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Steve Kessler: couple of questions that popped into my head. Tomas.

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Steve Kessler: Nope.

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Steve Kessler: we you’ve talked quite a bit about, you know. Obviously it’s

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Steve Kessler: human smuggling, and that’s obviously a huge problem. Are the drivers even. Let’s just say that they were completely, totally unaware that they had a passenger.

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Steve Kessler: and maybe they didn’t do that proper pre-trip before they took off. Are they still liable, even if they had no knowledge that this person was on there?

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Steve Kessler: Especially if something happens if they’re sick or they die? Or is that something the courts have to sort out

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Tomas Carrillo: Honestly? The initial part of it is going to be the arrests. They are going to get arrested, because obviously there is something there. We have a probable cause that something’s being. Something’s happened.

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But what happens is it goes through an investigation

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Tomas Carrillo: so like any other case that gets adjudicated if they’re involved, if they’re not involved. The investigation follows immediately after. So we’ll go through that process up until it’s determined. Yes, this person had no knowledge, or

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Tomas Carrillo: this person did have knowledge. and then it’ll take the proper channels from there. Well, most of the time. Whenever somebody has somebody with them in as a passenger.

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they usually know, especially down here

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Tomas Carrillo: in these areas.

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Steve Kessler: Okay.

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Steve Kessler: Mark, do you have any comments? Yeah, I know, Tomas, you and Arlo will have worked at checkpoint

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Tomas Carrillo: It’s almost a daily occurrence that you see. Either

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Mark Rhea: smuggling or contraband going through that checkpoint. Is that a fair statement?

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Tomas Carrillo: No. 100? Yes, sir, yeah. I have the experience of working it as an agent, and being the one catching it to managing

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Tomas Carrillo: or being the supervisor at that checkpoint and

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dealing with multiple cases cases that the agents are catching. And it’s not unheard of for them to catch multiple

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Mark Rhea: cases within a shift. Wow, so it’s it’s just ongoing day and night. Now, if some of our clients would like a

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Mark Rhea: to communicate with you directly, and maybe have their own internal

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Mark Rhea: webinar, or Zoom Meeting, or something like that? Do you have a contact? It would they call this number here or do. Do you have a direct? And oh, there it is. Okay. Carlos Tomas. Okay, either 3 of those

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Tomas Carrillo: any 3 of us would. We’re due. And we also have a group email which I’ll put into the chat. If that’s all right, it’s gonna be LRT.

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Tomas Carrillo: yeah, that email address that’s in the chat that’ll connect you to all of our group. So it’ll connect you to our team.

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And if they’re interested in us giving another training or another webinar training like this, we’d be more than happy to, or even going to, their place of business depends on what they have going on.

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Tomas Carrillo: We have no problem doing that. That’s part of one of the things that we are wanting to do as much as we can is the outreach portion.

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Mark Rhea: And the losing your CDL that’s not limited to Texas. CDL holders. That’s Ohio, Michigan, Ontario.

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Tomas Carrillo: anywhere. Yes, if they’re coming here and they get caught smuggling in the State of Texas.

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Tomas Carrillo: It doesn’t matter where that CDL s from, they can lose it. Yes, and and there. And if you’re out of state. You’re actually a target

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Tomas Carrillo: whenever for recruitment.

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No? Well, it can happen if you’re out of this area from like those that are not from the radial.

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Tomas Carrillo: They usually try to approach those people first like. So from Dallas, from someplace else.

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Tomas Carrillo: or Chicago. Yeah.

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Tomas Carrillo: so, the benefit is

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Mark Rhea: to exchange this information with your drivers, to let them aware this is the reality of the border region.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yes, sir.

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and that’s kind of one of the main things is.

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Tomas Carrillo: Tomas. I don’t know if you’re seeing that on the chat. But

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Steve Kessler: we have a question about whether or not it’s possible to tour the border crossing as someone from a transportation company to get more knowledge on what to keep an eye out for.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yeah, I know. And that’s something that we can coordinate. That’s definitely something that is done in the past, and we can do in the future. So like I said, they can reach out to that number. If they’re interested in doing something like that.

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Tomas Carrillo: and we’re we’d be more than welcome to coordinate something, for

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Steve Kessler: it would be interesting and an eye opener. That’s for sure. I think you’ve already kind of touched on it some of this recruitment

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Steve Kessler: it’s preferable that it happens farther away from the border, I mean, literally could be somebody approach. That’s in New York that’s heading south to the border. They might be approached

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Steve Kessler: about this sort of thing that far away. But

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Tomas Carrillo: so it does happen a lot of times. I’m not gonna say that it doesn’t, because some of these organizations do stretch out throughout the United States. But most of the time most of the ones that we’re seeing here, as of late

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Tomas Carrillo: have been those that are stopping at these stops at these places here locally, and then you’re not.

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Tomas Carrillo: But they do have organizations that stretch nationwide.

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Steve Kessler: I noticed your video was counting how many CDLs had been disqualified. Do you know what that number is today?

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Tomas Carrillo: 847, my gosh!

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Tomas Carrillo: That’s a hundred people right now pending.

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Tomas Carrillo: And then we have another 100 that we’re looking at, canceling, depending on what the the court proceedings happen.

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Tomas Carrillo: So we got another 100. Another 100 candidates at this point.

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Tomas Carrillo: and those those and those the ones that got caught.

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Tomas Carrillo: and those are just counting those like. I said, we have the B1/B2 crossers which those immediately get, you know.

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Tomas Carrillo: cut off. And those people can’t even cross into the United States anymore. You know they lose all that privilege, you know these are just counting the

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Tomas Carrillo: US CDLs, you know we have. Our numbers would be way higher if we would count all these other

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Tomas Carrillo: and all this. Yes, and all the other sectors as well.

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Tomas Carrillo: That’s just for our area. That 847s our sector alone.

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Steve Kessler: I have a question here. Somebody’s asking, have you found many Canadian carriers involved in recruitment?

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Tomas Carrillo: Typically, no.

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Tomas Carrillo: it’s very rare for us to catch someone who is a Canadian driver, Canadian CDL holder.

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Tomas Carrillo: they usually don’t get involved for the most part with the smuggling organizations. It does happen on occasion, but it’s more of the rarity rather than the rule.

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Tomas Carrillo: So it’s a very rare thing to happen. But it does. It does happen from time to time. But it’s not the norm by far.

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Mark Rhea: I gotta ask this question. If I’m approached at a truck, stop in Laredo to take something or somebody to San Antonio. How much money could I expect to make?

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Tomas Carrillo: Depends on what you’re smuggling and how far you’re going. So they offer a lot of money they offer from anywhere, from a couple $100 all the way up into tens of thousands to offer, depending what they’re doing.

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Tomas Carrillo: But keep in mind that that person, that driver, is taking the brunt of the of the risk, mainly because they’re also charging $10 to $15,000 a person

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Tomas Carrillo: to smuggle. So

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Tomas Carrillo: we were talking to one of the people that we had call one time, and they were only paying him about 2 or $3,000, but he had about 20 people inside the trailer of his of his tractor.

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and each one of those people was paying about $10 to $13,000 to be smuggled. Actually, it was about $8 to $12,000 to be smuggled across.

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Tomas Carrillo: So

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at that point he ended up wanting to give a lot more information, and we were given, passing them up to the investigative arm of what we were doing.

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Tomas Carrillo: So at that point we had to to pass them off because you wanted to give a lot of information about the smuggling organizations and stuff.

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Mark Rhea: So you can make a lot of quick cash.

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Tomas Carrillo: Yeah, and they do. And but they also take the risk. So that guy ended up getting several years in prison as well as

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Mark Rhea: I think the gap is, we just gotta. We’ve just gotta out, reach out and network with our drivers to let them know what that risk is, because I’m assuming a lot of them do not know what that risk is. So

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Steve Kessler: yeah, I really thought that was the prime benefit of this program. Because I think

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Steve Kessler: they’re like you, said Mark. There are lot that just don’t know

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Steve Kessler: how crafty these people are and the techniques that they use, and the more we can let them know what to look for. And you know, being on alert the whole time to make sure you don’t get caught up in something that could be devastating to you and

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Steve Kessler: guys to be involved in injuring some other people.

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Steve Kessler: That would just. you know.

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Steve Kessler: it’s gonna be very important that we all train our drivers as much as possible how to act and behave and be alert around the borders.

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Mark Rhea: So I don’t see any other questions. Mark. Did you have anything? No, I just want to make sure that everybody knows that video that Tomas and and Arlo put together is available through our network and

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Mark Rhea: learning platform. And I would encourage you to get that out this afternoon or before the holidays, for sure.

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Mark Rhea: just so that your drivers understand the realities of what’s going on down there. And

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Mark Rhea: yeah, really do a one-up.

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Mark Rhea: put out a thank you beyond thank you to our partners at the Border Patrol in the work that you all do for us.

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Steve Kessler: Yeah, same for me. But thank you all very much for joining this

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myself, and I’m sure everybody that was tuned in today appreciate what you all do. There.

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Steve Kessler: You put yourselves at risk doing what you do, and thank you very much for that.

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Mark Rhea: I would even ask. I would even ask the participants on the chat to send a thank you to these gentlemen and their and their co-workers. So

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Steve Kessler: so Tomas and Arlo, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

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Steve Kessler: I’m hoping maybe, to get you guys to join us again down the road on another webinar, and we can reach out to another group of folks.

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Steve Kessler: So once again. Thank you. I see a lot of thank you is popping into the chat now. so I appreciate you all very much. Be safe.

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Steve Kessler: and we’ll see all of you that joined us on the webinar on the next program.

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Steve Kessler: Tomas, Arlo. Thank you all very much. Appreciate you.

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Tomas Carrillo: Thank you all for having us, and we do appreciate it, and if you all ever need anything you have our contact info or can get it. Fantastic.

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Steve Kessler: Appreciate you guys. Thank you for joining us.

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Tomas Carrillo: Have a good time. Alright.