South Texas trucking company says their federal identifying number was “cloned” on truck carrying trailer full of dead migrants

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The owner of a trucking company in south Texas says their United States Department of Transportation identifying number was cloned on the truck carrying a trailer of 50 dead migrants in San Antonio.

Felipe Betancourt, the owner of Betancourt Trucking and Harvesting, told San Antonio Express-News that although the truck involved in the 50 migrant deaths was carrying their federal and state identifying numbers on the side of the truck, it was not theirs.

By federal law, every truck needs to have a federal and state identifying number posted on each side of the truck. The number is connected to a specific company and each truck the company owns has its identifying number on the side.

There have been known cases where an identifying number was cloned onto the side of a truck to make it seem legitimate.

A search of the US DOT number for Betancourt Trucking and Harvesting shows the company is located in Alamo, Texas, right near McAllen.