Border authorities foil 'smuggling scheme,' find over 140 illegal migrants crammed inside 2 stash houses

The Texas Department of Public Safety and Customs and Border Protection announced on Monday that they recently discovered more than 140 illegal migrants packed inside two stash houses near El Paso.

According to CBP El Paso Sector Chief Anthony "Scott" Good, the agency's units and Texas DPS successfully "foiled a smuggling scheme" involving 51 migrants found inside one stash house.

"Subsequent interviews led to another stash house w/95 more migrants, totaling 146 migrants intercepted. That's over 130 stash houses this FY23YTD!" Good wrote on Twitter.

Pictures and videos shared on social media by CBP officials show a large group of migrants crammed inside an El Paso-area residence.

According to KRQE, the apprehended illegal migrants were from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Some of the migrants were expelled under Title 42, and others were processed and apprehended under Title 8, according to the news outlet.

"The citizens in our local El Paso community provide an important partnership to help us safeguard our city. We encourage anyone with information to report suspicious activity to our office. That one phone call could help save many lives," Good stated.

DPS spokesperson Lt. Christopher Olivarez reported that one of the recent raids was conducted on Sunday after law enforcement received a tip about a potential stash house.

"A search of the home resulted in a total of 95 migrants, 74 males and 19 females, including 2 minors. All migrants were referred to Border Patrol and the manager was charged federally with Title 8 USC 1324 Harboring Illegal Aliens," he said.

Another stash house in El Paso was raided last week, which resulted in the apprehension of 23 illegal migrants from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala, officials stated.

Officials suspect that Mexican drug cartels have intentionally spread false information online to encourage migrants near the Mexico-U.S. border to attempt to cross illegally.

In March, a large group of migrants stormed the southern border after they reported seeing a social media post that claimed those with extreme circumstances or with children would be allowed to enter the United States.

Last week, dozens of migrants threw their babies and small children over the river that separates Mexico from the U.S. after they heard online rumors that CBP was granting entry.

The false claims that circulated online caused thousands of migrants to rush to the U.S. border near El Paso, Texas.

Olivarez blamed the federal government's "disastrous border policies" for allowing Mexican drug cartels and smuggling organizations to turn "mass migration into a multibillion-dollar slave trade."

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