EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Smugglers used a storage shed with limited airflow and small windows to stash 72 migrants, said U.S. Border Patrol officials, who also arrested a man wanted by Interpol for murder.
Acting on a tip about a possible migrant stash house, federal, state and local authorities served a warrant on the property on Overland Avenue on Tuesday in South El Paso.
Agents described the conditions at the property as squalid, overcrowded and filled with trash.
Among the 72 individuals, the Border Patrol said, were two residence caretakers who will face human smuggling charges.
As part of the investigation, agents learned of a second stash house down the road on Val Verde Street, where another five migrants were held.
Officials said the 77 migrants — from Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic — were in good condition and ultimately processed for removal.
During a check of their records, agents also determined that one of the migrants, a man from the Dominican Republic, was wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, for murder in his home country. It is unclear at which of the two stash houses he was found.
“The citizens in our local El Paso community provide an important partnership to help us safeguard our city,” said Scott Good, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector. “We encourage anyone with information to report suspicious activity to our office. A phone call
could help our agents disrupt criminal smuggling and possibly save lives,”
The Border Patrol said that in Fiscal Year 2024, which began on Oct. 1, 2023, human smuggling interdiction teams from the El Paso Sector have uncovered more than 270 stash houses and taken into custody 2,663 migrants.
The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector Anti-Smuggling Units (ASU), Homeland Security Investigations, El Paso County deputy constables and Texas Department of Public Safety served the warrant at the home on Overland.
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