Stash House Raids Yield Arrests of 100 Migrants in Texas near Border

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents teamed up with local law enforcement to disrupt multiple human smuggling operations. The raids on human smuggling stash houses and stopped transport vehicles led to the arrest of more than 100 migrants in a single day.

Rio Grande City Station agents received information about a possible human smuggling stash house near the border in Roma, Texas, on the morning of November 10, Border Patrol officials said in a recent statement. The agents teamed up with Roma Police Department officers to investigate the house.

Upon entry into the home, the agents found 46 migrants locked inside. Agents conducted an initial medical screening and immigration interview. They identified the 46 people as residents of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. All were illegally present in the United States, officials stated.

That afternoon, Weslaco Station agents teamed up with the San Juan, Texas, Police Department to investigate “an active illegal alien stash house,” officials reported. Law enforcement entered the residence and found 52 migrants locked inside.

During an initial medical screening, the agents observed several people with “flu-like symptoms.” Agents said the migrants were “treated accordingly.” Agents report the house was not properly ventilated and the temperature inside was in excess of 90 degrees.

An immigration interview identified the 52 people as residents of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

McAllen Station agents received a request for assistance from the La Joya Police Department after one of their officers stopped a suspicious vehicle along U.S. Highway 83. An immigration interview by a responding agent identified the driver and one of the passengers as U.S. citizens. They determined the two people were transporting one illegal alien further into the U.S. interior, officials stated.

That evening, agents assigned to the Javier Vega, Jr., checkpoint on U.S. Highway 77 observed a Ford Mustang approaching for inspection. The agents referred the driver of the Mustang to a secondary inspection area after a K-9 alerted to the possible presence of drug or human cargo in the vehicle.

During the secondary inspection, the agents found two people locked inside the trunk of the vehicle. A search of the interior of the vehicle yielded another illegal immigrant who was hidden under blankets in the rear seat.

The agents placed the driver and front-seat passenger under arrest.

In total, the disruption of four human smuggling incidents led to the arrest of 102 migrants, officials reported.

The following day, RGV agents disrupted four more human smuggling attempts and apprehended 29 more migrants, Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings tweeted.

“Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation,” Rio Grande Valley Sector officials said in a written statement. “The U.S. Border Patrol agents of the Rio Grande Valley Sector will continue to safeguard the nation and community against these criminal elements.”