Chinese Migrant Found Hiding Inside Pickup Truck Says He Paid Over $70,000 To Be Smuggled Into The U.S.

Border Patrol authorities at California's San Ysidro Port of Entry intercepted a pickup truck trying to smuggle eight migrants in its bed. Among those trying to make it into the United States were three Chinese nationals who allegedly paid dozens of thousands of dollars to human smugglers just to cross the border.

Earlier in March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the San Diego border crossing conducted a surprise sweep with a K-9. Once the dog alerted officers of a suspicious black Ford pickup truck with California license plates, officers called for the Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement team, who pried open a cover on the bed of the pickup truck and found eight people hiding under it.

As Border Report detailed, one of the migrants hiding inside the vehicle was a Mexican national who served nine years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to posses with intent to distribute heroin and had been deported from the U.S. on at least two occasions.

The Chinese nationals, on their end, told investigators they had paid dozens of thousands of dollars to smugglers. Ranbin Lin, one of the three Chinese nationals hiding inside the vehicle, told authorities he gave Mexican smugglers $50,000 to get him across the border and planned to pay another $24,000 once he was reunited with his ex-wife in New York.

Another Chinese national who was identified as Lin Lin told authorities he paid $35,000 to Mexican smugglers to get him from Mexico to Arkansas, where he had landed a job. Jungie Lang, the third Chinese national found inside the pickup truck, told investigators his wife had made arrangements with Mexican smugglers to get him to Los Angeles.

The driver was identified as Luis Alberto Garcia Capistran, a Mexican national with a U.S. visa who had picked up some of the migrants at a hotel in Tijuana. Garcia is now facing federal felony charges of aiding and abetting and bringing in undocumented immigrants for financial gain. He is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve B. Chu in federal court in San Diego on March 13.

Criminal defense attorney Marc Carlos said Chinese migrants pay human smugglers significantly more just to cross the border. In an interview with NBC San Diego, Carlos said prices of smuggling Chinese migrants have skyrocketed in recent years, averaging payments between $40,000 to $60,000.

"I've been doing this a long time," Carlos said. "And I have not seen the prices that high for crossing the border."

Carlos mentioned that the going rate for smuggling Latinos through the San Ysidro crossing is between $6,000 and $10,000. Due to the elevated rewards for smuggling Chinese migrants and less severe punishment for human smuggling compared to drugs, prosecutors say cases like these will continue to surface.

Mark Conover, an official with the U.S. Attorney's Office, said in a statement that Chinese nationals continue to be smuggled into the U.S. in dangerous ways.

"We are seeing numerous Chinese nationals being smuggled into the U.S. in dangerous ways both in vehicles at ports of entry and on the ocean in boats and jet skis," he said. "The way in which these people are being smuggled puts their lives at risk and we are doing everything we can to deter this dangerous behavior," Conover added.