U.S. Border Patrol have discovered 35 migrants packed into an El Paso stash house as illegal border crossings continue to surge.
Agents with the El Paso Station Anti-Smuggling Unit found the 35 undocumented immigrants in a Central El Paso residence on Monday – just three days after ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris made a visit to the area.
Seven of the illegal migrants were Mexicans, 19 were Guatemalan, seven Ecuadorian, one Nicaraguan and one Honduran, USBP officials said in a release.
Images of the stash house bust, taken by Border Patrol agents, show the large group of migrants huddled on the floor outside of the stash house.
‘Our El Paso Sector integrated targeting teams focused on disrupting human smuggling continue to hinder the attempts of human smugglers who harbor illegal migrants, sometimes in deplorable, sub-standard living conditions,’ El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in a statement.
Images of the bust, taken by USBP agents, show the large group of migrants huddled on the floor outside of the stash house.
Agents with the El Paso Station Anti-Smuggling Unit found the 35 undocumented immigrants in a Central El Paso residence on Monday
‘We will continue to target Transnational Criminal Organizations in our region that continue to place the safety and well- being of migrants at risk,’ she added.
The migrants were all sent back to Mexico under Title 42 and prosecution is still pending for one Mexican national who was the caretaker of the home where the migrants were found, officials said.
The bust came just a few days after Vice President Kamala Harris made her whistle-stop trip to the US-Mexican border after 93 days as ‘border czar.
Harris spent just four hours in El Paso on Friday amid intense criticism of the administration’s handling of a spike in migration, and was accompanied by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
She took a tour of the Customs and Border Protection facility in El Paso and then made a stop at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry, a busy pedestrian border crossings.
The bust came just a few days after Vice President Kamala Harris made her much-anticipated visit to the border
Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Paso del Norte (PDN) Port of Entry in El Paso last week
The Vice President also spoke to border guards who have been dealing with a record-breaking surge in illegal crossings since the start of the Biden administration.
‘We inherited a tough situation… We have looked at a system where people have been housed in inhumane conditions over the last many years… In five months, we’ve made progress,’ she said after meeting Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso border sector.
Republicans accused her of only visiting the border as a ‘pit stop’ en route to her California home and waiting until 93 days after President Biden tasked her with tackling the crisis.
They also said she should have gone to the Rio Grande Valley, which is where a large majority of the crossings take place. She also avoided the migrant tent city at Fort Bliss, where children have to be monitored for self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts.
This chart shows how 2021 border crossings – pictured in blue – rocketed on crossings made in 2020, represented by the brown line (2018 is pictured in gray, with 2019 in orange)
Harris is visiting the El Paso processing center during her border trip. According to Border Patrol statistics, the Rio Grande Valley has seen nearly two-and-a-half times more illegal crossings than in El Paso
Former Department of Homeland Secretary Chad Wolf said: ‘While it’s certainly positive that she is taking this step, I am disappointed that she is not going to the Rio Grande Valley – the very epicenter of this crisis.’
Harris’ trip to El Paso was announced just days earlier and appeared to have been hastily put together days before a visit to the border by former President Donald Trump. Harris’ office denied that was a consideration in their scheduling.
Biden’s first few months in office have seen record numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border, with more than 180,000 encounters taking place on the Mexican border in May.
Border Patrol said El Paso has seen a significant increase in the number of single adults crossing the border illegally this year.
According to Border Patrol statistics, the Rio Grande Valley has seen nearly two-and-a-half times more illegal crossings than in El Paso.