Mexican national arrested for trying to smuggle 19 migrants from El Paso to Dallas

ALBANY, Texas -- Authorities have charged a Mexican national with trying to smuggle a group of 19 migrants from El Paso to Dallas in a pickup truck.

The Shackelford County Sheriff's Office said Albany police pulled over 34-year-old Francisco Alfredo Lopez-Cubillas in his truck on suspicion of drunk driving.

During the traffic stop on Monday, authorities said they found five people in the cab and 14 others hiding under a truck bed cover.

The migrants ranged in ages from 17 to 60, and officials said they were from the nations of Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras.

Authorities said Lopez-Cubillas had picked up the group in El Paso and was headed to Dallas.

He was being held in the Shackelford County Jail on $161,500 bond, according to jail records, on 19 counts of human trafficking. But officials said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had also placed a no-bond detainer on him.

The 19 migrants were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.