The US Border Patrol has started to notice an important trend in alien smuggling - the transportation of large numbers of persons in single vehicles such as large trucks. Recently, agents found a truck crammed with thirty-five illegal Mexicans. The aliens had been hiding in the back for hours without access to food, water, or bathroom facilities.

In early February, Border Patrol agents seized three semi-trucks loaded with a total of 417 illegal immigrants in the California desert. According to Border Patrol Spokesman Randy Clark:

"We've seen smugglers use trucks carrying 25 to 30 people, but these cases have increased dramatically. When tractor-trailers were used in the past, the smugglers usually carried one or two in the sleeper area or 15 in the back. Until last week, we had never seen an 18-wheeler with 100 or more aliens in the back."

The Border Patrol attributes the change to the agency's effectiveness at curbing illegal immigration. Smugglers are being forced to take more desperate actions including using larger vehicles to increase the payoffs for smuggling. Immigrants are also reportedly paying four to five times the price to smugglers that they were just two years ago, according to the Border Patrol.

In other news related to alien smuggling, George Tajirian, a former Olympic bicyclist from Iraq, and three others were indicted for allegedly planning to smuggle hundreds of nationals from Middle Eastern countries into the US through Mexico.

According to authorities, the four charged between $10,000 and $25,000 for their services. The scheme involved plans to bring the aliens for country to country until they made it to Mexico and then the US. More than 250 people, mostly Iraqis, are said to have entered the US under the scheme in the last two years.