Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents recovered a large group of migrants being held in a stash house near the Texas border with Mexico. Border Patrol agents teamed up with Webb County Constable’s Office deputies and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) to carry out the raid.
Laredo South Station Border Patrol agents received a tip about a possible human smuggling stash house on the south side of the city on June 12, according to information obtained from Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials. The agents joined deputies from the Webb County Constable’s Office and HSI special agents to carry out a “knock and talk” raid.
When law enforcement entered the house located in the 4000 block of Chickasaw Lane in Laredo, they found 33 people stashed inside. The agents conducted immigration interviews and found that all 33 came from Mexico. They placed all 33 of the illegal immigrants in custody pending further investigation.
Under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all 33 are subject to immediate removal to Mexico following a medical screening and criminal background investigation.
“Despite the ongoing international pandemic, U.S. Border Patrol agents of the Laredo Sector continue to stand at the ready to secure the nation’s borders, prevent the flow of illegal immigration, the exploitation by human smugglers, and the spread of COVID-19,” Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials said in a written statement.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents frequently find migrants being warehoused in stash houses after being smuggled across the border, Breitbart Texas reported. They are frequently abused or extorted for additional smuggling fees before being crammed into tractor-trailers like human cargo or otherwise smuggled around interior immigration checkpoints.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.