41 people removed from truck in Texas

SAN ANTONIO — A Dallas man was arrested on a charge of smuggling migrants after more than three dozen people were found in and around a tractor-trailer rig that was stopped in San Antonio, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Aron Bernard Griffin, 49, was arrested Thursday night at a gas station after police received reports from residents who said they saw people in the back of the tractor-trailer he was driving, prosecutors said. Police initially reported finding 29 migrants, but federal immigration agents ultimately detained 41 who were in the U.S. without legal permission, prosecutors said.

Griffin was being held in San Antonio ahead of an initial court appearance Friday, prosecutors said. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

Prosecutors said Griffin had reported that he had made an agreement with another person to pick up the migrants in Laredo and drive them to San Antonio for money.

A Homeland Security Department investigations spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about the health and age of the migrants.