More than 5,000 illegal immigrants have been discovered inside stash houses around Laredo, Texas, since last fall, according to local authorities, an indication of how many are evading Border Patrol agents at the United States-Mexico border and getting away.
Since President Joe Biden took office in January, the number of migrants encountered illegally coming across the border has reached a 21-year high . Laredo has seen an increase in the number of people who are sneaking past law enforcement on the border and making it to stash houses where smugglers hold their human cargo before moving them further into the country, according to Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz.
“We continue to see a rise in the stash houses,” Saenz, a Democrat, said in a phone call this week. “I’m worried. This is why I’ve been shouting and screaming to the federal government to send more resources, more Border Patrol.”
Federal and local enforcement have busted 247 homes, apartments, and trailers in the south-central part of the state since October 2020, the start of fiscal year 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is the parent agency of Border Patrol. In that time, 5,379 people have been rescued from inside the stash houses, an 800% increase compared to last year, Saenz said.
“I’m in my 22nd year here, and since my rookie year, we’ve had an issue with stash houses and people coming in the country illegally — not at this volume. This volume is record-breaking right now,” said Jose Baeza, an investigator for the Laredo Police Department.
Most people inside the houses are adult men who pay smugglers to get them into the U.S. because they have a criminal history or have been deported before, and getting caught by the Border Patrol would mean being returned again. Unlike in other regions of the southern border, where the majority of people crossing the border are families and unaccompanied children who seek out police in order to surrender and claim asylum, 96% of people arrested in the Laredo region are adults.
Thirty to 100 people are regularly found packed inside the houses, which can range from trailer homes to average-looking homes in a neighborhood. An extremely limited amount of food and water is inside. Air conditioning may or may not be working, even as temperatures outside climb past 100 degrees. Those inside often share a single restroom and are not allowed to leave the house under any condition until smugglers tell them to.
“The conditions that they put them in are horrendous,” Saenz said. “They’re jam-packed like sardines.”
Local gangs that work with cartels oversee the houses. They detain illegal immigrants for days to weeks until they have a tractor-trailer or other mode of transportation to pack people into and move them to another city. Most Central American adults in this situation have paid $5,000 to $10,000 to get across the border and to a specific U.S. city where they have family or friends to connect with. People from further away than Central America may pay up to $50,000 for the entire journey.
Stash houses are discovered as the result of tips from community members and information received at either the federal, state, or local level. Last month, a young woman in Laredo was abducted by two suspected cartel members after she reported suspicious smuggling activity to police, Saenz said. She was tortured for five hours, her two captors pouring gasoline and salt on wounds they had inflicted on her, according to an affidavit summarizing the incident.
Other times, migrants in the house may call 911 out of desperation because the smuggler has abandoned them and they do not know what to do or where to go. Local police and federal police then respond. Local authorities will arrest suspected smugglers on-site, while the Border Patrol are responsible for detaining suspected illegal immigrants, which is a federal offense, not a local matter.
For illegal immigrants whose stash houses are not discovered, they will likely be packed into the back of a tractor-trailer that will take them further north. Border Patrol agents in Laredo have found 6,600 people inside trailers since last October. Laredo is just one of nine regions that the Border Patrol divides the border into. In an incident caught on video late last week, illegal immigrants dashed into the back of a trailer, hoping to get on board before the truck took off to an undisclosed location.
“It just shows you the dynamics — the coordination that they have,” Saenz said. “Within seconds, you see all these cars approaching and unloading people … men primarily, women, children as well, jam-packed with dozens and dozens of people.”
Written by Anna Giaritelli for The Washington Examiner – August 14, 2021
FAIR USE NOTICE: