In what is either a bad month for Mexican Cartels running human smuggling operations through Texas - or an indication of just how widespread their schemes are along our border with Mexico, Federal Officers continue to bust "stash houses" aplenty in October.
A dozen migrants from four different countries are found by CBP agents in raid on a South Laredo "stash house" on Oct. 18, 2023.Photo byU.S. Customs & Border Protection
The latest bust occurred Wednesday in South Laredo where agents discovered a "stash house" containing a dozen migrants. Stash houses are essentially a way-station where human smugglers house the migrants before moving them deeper into the state.
Wrist bands on migrants indicate what fees have been paid - and which cartel smuggling operation has agreed to transport them.Photo byTexas Department of Public Safety
Sometimes the migrants are held until they pay off their smuggling guide. In any case, the conditions inside a stash house are usually deplorable. Inside the South Laredo stash house officer found migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
El Paso Border Patrol Agents apprehended 12 migrants during a raid of this Ysleta stash house on October 10, 2023.Photo byU.S. Border Patrol
Conditions inside the Ysleta stash house were appalling.Photo byU.S. Border Patrol
Seven days before that stash house raid, El Paso Border Patrol Agents started the month with the raid of a stash house containing an unbelievable number of migrants:
55 migrants are discovered by Border Patrol Agents while raiding an El Paso stash house on October 3, 2023.Photo byU.S. Border Patrol
Inside this one El Paso house, agents discovered FIFTY-FIVE migrants!
Can you imagine sharing a home with 54 other people for days, perhaps weeks on end? The human smugglers working for the Mexican Cartels don't even give this a second thought.
So far this year, more than 250 stash houses have been located in the El Paso Border Patrol Sector. That reflects an increase in human smuggling activity from 2022 when Border Patrol Agents in the El Paso Sector located more than 156 stash houses, leading to the apprehension of 1,684 migrants.
25 migrants are found by El Paso Border Patrol Agents during the raid of a mobile home serving as a stash house on August 13, 2023.Photo byU.S. Border Patrol
The penalties for being involved in one of these operations can be severe. Last year a San Benito man was sentenced to 33 months in prison for operating a stash house as well as attempting to smuggle migrants through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita.
In May of this year, the operator of a Houston stash house found to contain 100 migrants was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.
Despite the harsh sentences, human smuggling and stash house operations along the Texas-Mexican Border continue to increase -- but Federal Agents continue to do their best to reverse that trend.
Do you believe enough is being done to secure the Texas Border with Mexico?
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Other stories by Jack Beaversabout Texas Border issues include:
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