Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents arrested more than 100 migrants in a 30-hour period last week. The human smuggling incidents included the packing of migrants into stash houses and vehicles.
Between October 21 and 22, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo Sector area of operation disrupted multiple human smuggling operations. The interdictions led to the arrest of more than 100 in the 30-hour timeframe, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.
Officials report the apprehension of the migrants in multiple stash house operations, vehicle stops, interior immigration checkpoints, train check operations, brush cases, and vehicle bailouts.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents find migrants packed like wood in the back seat of a human smuggling vehicle. Officials said people on the bottom of the pile experienced difficulty breathing. (U.S. Border Patrol/Laredo Sector)
In total, the agents apprehended 106 migrants from multiple countries including Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, officials reported.
Laredo Sector officials said in a written statement:
The recklessness of many of these events highlight the lack of regard human smugglers have for the safety and wellbeing of the people they exploit for profit. In the stash house and load vehicle cases, people were crammed into small confined spaces in large groups without any personal protective equipment, exposing them to the potential spread of COVID-19 infection.
In many of the load vehicles encountered, failures to yield followed by bailouts were commonplace. In these stops, people were found piled on top of one another in attempts to conceal them in the vehicles. One such vehicle was stopped on U.S. Highway 83, north of San Ygnacio, Texas.
Agents discovered 16 individuals packed so tightly that some at the bottom of the pile were having difficulty breathing. They immediately asked for assistance due to the high temperatures in the vehicle and lack of water.
“We continue to see smugglers put the lives of illegal aliens at risk, whether it be through the use of commercial vehicles, freight trains, or other dangerous conveyances,” Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hukak said in a written statement. “Our agents have seen aliens sustain major traumatic injuries from trains. I hope smugglers and aliens recognize how dangerous this is before someone loses their life or is severely injured.”
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.