100 Migrants Arrested in Three Human Smuggling Efforts in Texas near Border

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 100 migrants in three human smuggling incidents. Two included crowded stash houses located near the Texas border with Mexico. The third was an illegal crossing thwarted by a new section of border wall.

McAllen Station agents received information on November 20 regarding a large group of migrants illegally crossing the Rio Grande. Surveillance technology identified a group of 50 who crossed the border river with Mexico into Texas. They quickly moved onto farmlands and further inland, Border Patrol officials stated.

“Large groups such as these are a threat to communities on both sides of the border as COVID-19 infections are on the rise,” Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings tweeted.

Officials report the efforts to move inland were thwarted by a new section of border wall. Agents searched the area and captured 61 from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela.

One day earlier, Rio Grande City Station Border Patrol agents teamed up with Starr County Sheriff’s Office investigators to check out a suspected human stash house, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector officials. The law enforcement team approached the Rio Grande City residence and found a group of 21 illegal immigrants being held inside the house.

Later that day, McAllen Station agents teamed up with Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office deputies to investigate a mobile home suspected of being a human smuggling stash house. The law enforcement team conducted a “welfare check” on the residence and found 18 illegal immigrants inside, officials stated.

The agents reported the people were being warehoused in poor living conditions with minimal ventilation.

Agents identified the migrants as having come to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

Agents medically screened all 100 migrants and conducted biometric background investigations before processing them under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under Title 42, more than 90 percent of migrants are expelled to their country of origin or the last country they passed through to enter the U.S. illegally. Most are expelled within two hours of their arrest, CBP officials previously told Breitbart Texas.

“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,” 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.”