Citizen’s call leads agents to 23 migrants at ‘party’ in alleged stash house

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A concerned citizen’s call to his local police department has led to the arrest of two alleged smugglers and the apprehension of 23 migrants in Arizona.

The Yuma Police Department received the call at 3:20 p.m. last Tuesday. The caller expressed concern after observing “six or seven individuals” getting out from under a tarp over the bed of a white Ford F-250 pickup on West 21 ^st Street.

Yuma police responded to the neighbor’s concerns and later called for the assistance of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Anti-Smuggling Unit, which set up surveillance on a home in the 100 block of West 21 ^st .

The agents found the truck and allegedly saw a “fake toolbox” – a feature often used by human smugglers to conceal undocumented migrants.

The agents saw a man exit the house and drive the truck away; they stopped him, and he admitted to being a foreign national with no legal basis to be in the United States, according to documents filed this week in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Two supervisory Border Patrol agents wearing body armor knocked on the door of the house. Court records show they began interviewing two U.S. citizens named David Martinez and James Michael Torres when they spotted another individual near the front door. The agents questioned the third man and he admitted to being in the U.S. illegally

The Border Patrol supervisors turned back to Martinez and asked him to cooperate; they received consent to search the house and found an additional 22 undocumented migrants hiding throughout the property, according to a complaint affidavit filed July 31.

Martinez and Torres were taken into custody on charges of harboring illegal aliens. The 23 foreign nationals were apprehended for illegal entry and transported to a federal facility for processing.

Two of the migrants stated they were part of a large group of people that crossed from Mexico into Arizona illegally, were picked up by a white pickup on the U.S. side and taken to the home on West 21st.

Questioned by investigators, Torres allegedly said he met a man named Frank in Mexico and that Frank asked him if they could “have a party” and invite some people to his home. Torres said people began arriving at the house in groups of four to five but that he did not know they were undocumented migrants.

He told investigators he didn’t know why Frank failed to show up.

Martinez also spoke about “a party” and said he had left the home earlier in the day, before guests arrived.

Later in the interview, he allegedly told investigators he knew the individuals dropping off people at his house “move people who are in the United States illegally” in and out of the Yuma area, court records allege. But ultimately, he reverted to the party scenario and stated he “did not coordinate” having them brought to his residence.

Court hearing dates for the two suspects are pending.

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