'Asylum Seeking' Honduran Couple Arrested for Alleged Human Smuggling Attempt

Border Patrol agents arrested a Honduran couple who are in the U.S. while waiting for an asylum hearing for allegedly smuggling a group of illegal immigrants and their coyote.

Agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector encountered a vehicle occupied by six adults and two children. Three of the adults were situated in the cargo area of the vehicle, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Border Patrol officials.

The Honduran couple sitting up front in the vehicle are in the U.S. pending an asylum hearing, officials stated. They were carrying their two children with them during the alleged human smuggling attempt.

Border Patrol officials said the couple drove from Houston to pick up two adult family members who illegally entered the U.S. to join them. The illegal immigrants were accompanied by their “trail guide” who allegedly helped them march around the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint located about 80 miles from the Texas/Mexico border.

Agents said another person in the vehicle is another illegal immigrant who joined the group during their march through the brush in Brooks County. Cartel connected human smugglers frequently force their human cargo to march through the very dangerous terrain in Brooks County. More than twenty percent of the deaths of illegal immigrants along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico occur in Brooks County, 80 miles from the border.

Agents arrested the couple who were in the U.S. to allegedly seek asylum. The agents also arrested all of the illegal immigrants who were being smuggled in the vehicle.

Officials did not disclose the disposition of the children who were placed in danger by allegedly involving them in the smuggling operation.

The information provided by Border Patrol officials also did not disclose when the Honduran couple entered the U.S. and claimed asylum. It is not known if they skipped any scheduled asylum hearings.