Border Patrol agents nabbed two Mexicans last week in what they called a foiled drug smuggling operation — with one of the men testing positive for COVID-19.
The man, who was not named, had complained of headaches after his arrest in Escobares, Texas. He was taken to a hospital where he tested positive, according to Customs and Border Protection.
The other man caught with him was shipped back to Mexico under the Trump administration’s COVID-19 border restrictions.
“Our Border Patrol agents risk their lives every day and, in this case, they did their jobs and ensured these smugglers could not successfully enter the United States,” said Mark Morgan, acting CBP commissioner. “Think about the alternative: potentially endless exposure and spread of the virus to innocent Americans with likely disastrous consequences from unscrupulous smugglers.”
The man is the second person confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus, following arrest of an Indian national in California last month.
Another migrant from Mexico showed signs of infection and said he’d been in contact with an infected person, and had jumped the border specifically to try to get treated in the U.S. He was quickly returned to Mexico.
