CRIMEEl Paso TimesU.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 134 migrants and seized more than $600,000 worth of methamphetamine over two days at three separate stash houses in San Elizario and New Mexico.Agents located 67 migrants Thursday who were trying to hide inside a trailer in Chaparral, New Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.Officials said 44 of the migrants were from Guatemala, 16 from Ecuador, five from Mexico, and one each from El Salvador and Honduras. Two of the Guatemalan migrants we...
CRIME
El Paso Times
U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 134 migrants and seized more than $600,000 worth of methamphetamine over two days at three separate stash houses in San Elizario and New Mexico.
Agents located 67 migrants Thursday who were trying to hide inside a trailer in Chaparral, New Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.
Officials said 44 of the migrants were from Guatemala, 16 from Ecuador, five from Mexico, and one each from El Salvador and Honduras. Two of the Guatemalan migrants were unaccompanied children.
Agents also found a stash house Wednesday in San Elizario with 43 migrants hiding inside, officials said.
The migrants included 20 from Ecuador, 11 from Peru, 10 from Mexico, one from Honduras and an unaccompanied child from Guatemala, officials said.
Agents also seized 19.85 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated street value of $635,200 found inside the stash house, officials said.
The same day, agents found another stash house in Vado, New Mexico, with 24 migrants hiding inside.
The migrants included 18 from Ecuador, four from Guatemala and two from Mexico, officials said.
According to Border Patrol officials, of the 134 migrants apprehended over the two days, 131 were single adults and three were unaccompanied children.
The three unaccompanied children from Guatemala were taken to the El Paso Central Processing Center for further processing, officials said.
Officials said the children were “rescued from dire conditions that are commonly found in stash houses.”
The other migrants were deported to Mexico, officials said.
“Our Border Patrol agents will continue to work together with other law enforcement agencies to rescue migrants from these deplorable living conditions where they are held for long periods of time,” U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in a statement. “No human being should be treated like a commodity.”
The investigations into the stash house were conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Don?a Ana County Sheriff’s Office.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at 915-546-6249; [email protected]; @AMartinezEPT on Twitter.