Texas stash house found with dozens of migrants living in ‘dire conditions’ 

Federal agents in El Paso, Texas discovered a stash house on Monday, where dozens of undocumented immigrants living in “dire conditions.”

Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agents found 29 migrants inside the house on 3700 Nashville Avenue. According to the agents, the house did not have a bathroom, refrigerator, working stove, or even air conditioning. 

According to the agents, the migrants had been living there for between one and four days. 

Out of the 29 migrants apprehended, 12 were coming from Mexico, eight from Ecuador, seven from Guatemala, one from Honduras, and one from El Salvador. 

Authorities reported the group as being conformed of 24 men and five women, ranging between 18 and 42 years old. 

The undocumented migrants were turned over to U.S. Border Patrol to be processed. 

"Human smugglers see people as merchandise and victimize them for profit," Francisco Burrola, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso, said in a statement. "HSI will continue to target transnational criminal organizations engaged in this crime."

In the last 24 hours, agents apprehended 10 smugglers and 84 migrants that were smuggled, according to a tweet by El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez. 

TRANSPORTING & HARBORING! A HUGE ‘Thank You’ to our diligent Border Patrol Agents throughout #ElPaso Sector for thwarting smuggling schemes, exposing stash houses, motels & identifying smugglers that work for these dangerous Transnational Criminal Organizations. #HonorFirst @cbp pic.twitter.com/TCsezZXUFU

— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) August 25, 2022

El Paso has become a destination for crimes related to undocumented immigration, including kidnapping and extortion, said the FBI earlier this year, according to Fox News.  

"These types of cases are tragic," Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey said in a February statement. "It’s not the amount of money involved; it’s the fact innocent victims are tricked into believing their loved ones are in danger and the horror and helplessness they feel as they scramble to secure what they think is their release."