As Texas’ border crisis worsens, law enforcement officials found more than 140 illegal aliens in two stash houses near El Paso.
U.S. Border Patrol agents teamed up with the Texas Department of Public Safety last weekend after receiving a tip regarding a possible stash house in the area.
Upon arriving, the agents found 51 illegal aliens from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala hiding in the residence. Two Mexican nationals were identified as caretakers of the stash house, and they now face federal charges for human smuggling.
Interviews conducted at the first stash house led agents to another location, where they discovered 94 illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador living in “deplorable” conditions.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is processing all of the apprehended illegal aliens under Title 42 or Title 8.
Border Patrol also reported that for the 2023 fiscal year, human smuggling interdiction teams in the El Paso sector have discovered more than 130 stash houses and apprehended more than 1,800 migrants. Agents in the El Paso sector have encountered more than 224,000 illegal aliens for this fiscal year, the most of any region in the country.
Last week, CBP agents responding to a call for assistance from DPS uncovered 58 migrants sitting in the back of a moving truck. El Paso sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good condemned the truck’s drivers. saying, “Just an example of how smugglers place profit over migrant lives!”
Good called on individuals to act if they see anything suspicious.
“The citizens in our local El Paso community provide an important partnership to help us safeguard our city,” said Good. “We encourage anyone with information to report suspicious activity to our office. That one phone call could help save many lives.”
Over the past year, the border crisis has worsened. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “CBP total encounters in February 2023 were 212,266, up approximately 2% from 208,511 in January 2023.”
As the Biden administration’s open border policies incentivize illegal aliens to enter the United States, U.S. law enforcement officials are increasingly overwhelmed at the border, with groups of migrants rushing ports of entry in some cases.
While the federal government fails to solve the border crisis, citizens and grassroots organizations have urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to declare an invasion using Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution and to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
To encourage Abbott, State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R–Brenham) filed a resolution calling for the governor to declare an invasion and alleviate the border crisis.
“Texas must send a strong message that crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants and drug traffickers will not stand,” said Kolkhorst. “Where the federal government is avoiding its responsibility, Texas will fulfill its constitutional duty to protect our citizens, property, and border.”
