173 Migrants Found in Stash Houses near Border in Texas

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector apprehended nearly 175 migrants in multiple human smuggling stash house operations over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Agents took the migrants into custody and processed them under CBP guidelines.

On June 1, Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) agent received information about a mobile home being utilized as a human smuggling stash house near La Grulla, Texas, according to information obtained from Border Patrol officials. Agents arrived and found 24 migrants inside the mobile home. Agents identified the migrants as foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

On Memorial Day, McAllen Station agents received a call from the Mission, Texas, Police Department regarding a migrant who escaped from a human smuggling stash house. The migrant directed the agents to the stash house where they found 62 migrants inside the residence. Law enforcement officers did not find a “caretaker” inside the home.

McAllen Station agents received information about another smuggling incident on Saturday, officials stated. Agents arrived at the location of the suspected stash house in Alton, Texas, and found nine Mexican nationals inside the home. They transported the migrants to the station for processing.

Later that day, agents received information about a fourth human smuggling stash house located near Escobares, Texas. Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety teamed up with the agents to investigate and observed several people fleeing from the residence as they arrived. The law enforcement team tracked down and arrested 57 more migrants. Agents conducted immigration interviews and identified the migrants as foreign nationals from Central America, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru.

Agents discovered two more human smuggling incidents on Friday. The first, in a residence in La Ferio, Texas.

Cameron County Sheriff’s Office deputies and police officers from the Harlingen Police Department teamed up with the agents to apprehend 11 migrants in the home. They identified those migrants as citizens of Ecuador and Mexico.

The second interdiction of the day occurred in Rio Grande City, Texas, where agents found ten migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

In total, the agents in the RGV Sector stopped 173 migrants from being smuggled into the U.S. interior, officials said.