Texas human smuggling: more than 100 illegal immigrants found in stash house

  • 9 years ago
Originally published March 20, 2014

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Four people were arrested on suspicion of running a human smuggling ring after police on Wednesday found more than 100 people from Central America and Mexico being warehoused in Texas in what investigators have called "deplorable conditions."

According to Reuters, as many as 93 men and 15 women were being held in a 204 square meter house, cramped into trash-filled rooms and with access to only one bathroom and no hot water.

The people, many of them dressed only in their underwear, were primarily from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador.

The house, just outside Houston, was found during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children that were reported missing by relatives on Tuesday, CBS News reported.

The house's windows were covered with plywood, and the doors had locks that could only be opened from the outside.

The building was surrounded by land where pigs, geese and hundreds of chickens were being kept. Police believe the chickens were used for illegal cockfighting.

Most of the people found in the house were in good health except for a pregnant woman who was taken to hospital, Fox News Latino reported.

The people arrested had been expected to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge, but no court filings detailing the alleged crime of human smuggling has appeared in federal court by late Wednesday afternoon, Reuters reported.

Houston sits about seven hours from the Mexican border, making it a popular route for immigrant, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Greg Palmore was quoted by CBS News as saying.

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