A Texas truck driver was apprehended for a minor traffic violation, which led to the discovery of 23 undocumented migrants being smuggled into the country.

John David Amaya, 24, was stopped on November 28 while driving along Interstate 35 in La Salle County. The state trooper who pulled him over noted that Amaya was driving on the shoulder and lacked a commercial driver’s license.

Upon conducting a search of Amaya’s vehicle, the officer uncovered a startling scene: a group of migrants, including several children, tightly packed into the cab’s sleeping area.

Amaya now faces 23 counts of human smuggling, including charges for smuggling minors. Additionally, he is charged with possession of a controlled substance under one gram, as reported by the Laredo Morning Times.

Under a law enacted in 2023 by Governor Greg Abbott, those convicted of smuggling people in Texas face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years, leaving Amaya at risk of a lengthy incarceration.

He remained in custody Monday evening on multiple bonds exceeding $100,000.

Meanwhile, the migrants – from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico – were referred to Border Patrol.

The shocking discovery comes as the Trump administration ramps up its deportation efforts across the country. 

John David Amaya, 24, was arrested and charged with 23 counts of smuggling of persons, including some minors

A Texas state trooper pulled him over for driving on the shoulder of Interstate 35

Twenty-three migrants were found to be hiding inside the cab of the truck 

In the body camera footage shared by the Department of Public Safety, the truck could be seen traveling down the highway with the trooper in tow before he pulled Amaya over.

At first, the suspect claimed he was just on his way to pick something up – and when he was asked if he had a commercial driver license, Amaya said he just did not have it on him at the time.

When the trooper then asked for permission to search the vehicle, Amaya seemed to get defensive.

‘Is that required?’ he asked the trooper as he tried to call his lawyer. 

‘There’s no reason you should be searching the vehicle,’ he insisted.

At that point, the trooper informed Amaya that he would get a K9 to search the vehicle, and if the dog found anything, he would have probable cause to search the truck.

‘That’s fine, I’d like to just wait for the other units,’ the trooper replied.

Backup arrived shortly afterward, and a K-9 was walked around the truck until the officer called out, ‘he got a hit!,’ at which point Amaya was detained.

Together with a third officer, the trooper searched the vehicle – unzipping the compartment to the sleeping area, where he found the migrants sitting. 

A K9 Border Patrol officer confirmed that the dog picked up a scent coming from the vehicle

Once authorities found that the dog picked up a scent, they searched the vehicle and unzipped the compartment to the sleeping area

They found the nearly two dozen migrants sitting inside

The operation was carried out as part of the Texas government’s Operation Lone Star initiative, in which the Texas Military Department works with the Department of Public Safety to apprehend migrants who cross the border.

The state has long been the epicenter of the migrant crisis, with 3.8 million migrants crossing into the Lone Star State between when former President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 to September 2023.

As the crisis continued, Governor Greg Abbott declared that the state would not shoulder the burden alone – and started busing migrants from Texas to self-declared sanctuary cities that claimed to welcome migrants with open arms. 

At a cost of $1,650 per migrant, Texas has spent millions on the border transportation operation from April 2022 to October 2023, according to a report by Axios. 

But Trump campaigned on relieving the problem and implementing mass deportations.

His administration is now on pace to get rid of two million illegal migrants in 2025, as officials warn it’s ‘just the beginning.’ 

Amaya faces a lengthy prison sentence under a 2023 law signed by Governor Greg Abbott

Around 493,000 migrants had been deported between when Trump took office in January and late October, while another 1.6 million have self-deported, officials have said.

Trump and Kristi Noem are responsible for having ‘jumpstarted an agency that was vilified and barred from doings its job for the last four years,’ spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

‘Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now or face the consequence. Migrants are now even turning back before they reach our borders,’ she told The New York Post. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Border Patrol and Governor Abbott’s office for comment.