McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A suspected stash house with 26 undocumented migrants from Central America and Mexico was discovered Friday afternoon in rural Starr County near the South Texas border town of Roma, U.S. Border Patrol agents said.
Border Patrol agents from the Rio Grande Valley Sector working with Roma Police said they dismantled the stash house, which was filled with undocumented migrants from the countries of Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
This was the seventh suspected stash house discovered in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in the past week, which resulted in the apprehension of 28 migrants in addition to the 26 on Friday, agents said. Over 100 stash houses have been dismantled this year, a Border Patrol official told Border Report.
Triple-digit heat recently could be the reason why so many migrants have been put up in stash houses, a Border Patrol official told Border Report recently. The migrants are trafficked and moved from place to place and their handlers must ensure their travel, which isn’t always easy during extreme heat.
But on Friday, temperatures plunged into the 60s from the high 90s and 100s of late, and that could mean that more migrants will be moved by coyotes who smuggle them further north in the upcoming days.
“Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation. The U.S. Border Patrol agents of the Rio Grande Valley Sector will continue to safeguard the nation and community against these criminal elements,” agents said in a statement to media.
