Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 110 migrants in a 24-hour period in two separate human smuggling interactions. One involved a human smuggling stash house in Laredo, Texas. The second involved a tractor-trailer interdiction at an interior immigration checkpoint.
Laredo North Station Border Patrol agents assigned to the Interstate 35 interior immigration checkpoint observed a tractor-trailer approaching for inspection during the early afternoon of July 21. The agents referred the driver to a secondary inspection station after a K-9 alerted to the possible presence of drug or human cargo in the trailer. A search of the trailer led to the discovery of 58 smuggled migrants, according to information obtained from Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.
The agents identified the 58 migrants as having come to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Agents arrested the U.S. citizen driver and the 58 migrants on human smuggling and immigration violations.
During processing, agents conducted biometric background investigations on the migrants and identified one as a previously deported criminal alien from Mexico. A court in Harris County, Houston, Texas, convicted the man on a murder charge and sentenced him to ten years in state prison. He is now in custody pending prosecution for illegal entry after removal as a convicted felon. If convicted on the federal felony, the Mexican man could face up to 20 years in prison.
The remaining migrants and the driver were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for further investigation and prosecution.
Later that day, Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents, HSI special agents, and the Laredo Police Department (LPD) began a surveillance operation on a house in south Laredo. During the surveillance, agents observed a green SUV leaving the residence with several passengers, officials reported.
LPD conducted a traffic stop on the SUV and found it occupied by five illegal aliens, officials stated. Border Patrol agents took all five, the driver included, into custody.
Shortly after, Border Patrol agents, HSI agents, and LPD officers made entry into the residence and found 46 people inside — including one juvenile. Agents identified the 46 as having come to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, officials said. All were taken into custody and are being held for further investigation into human smuggling activities in the area.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan told Breitbart Texas during a recent interview that these illegal aliens are no longer just endangering themselves as they are smuggled into the U.S. He explained that the current COVID-19 pandemic means they are threatening the public in the United States and his officers and agents who must process them after apprehension.
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 Face
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