EL PASO, Texas — On Aug. 8, for the second time in a week, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso special agents arrested undocumented noncitizens found inside a stash house. This time, special agents arrested 13 migrants and an alleged smuggler at a Central El Paso house rented through Airbnb.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, members of the HSI-led Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) assisted with the enforcement action.
Special agents arrived at a house in the 600 block of Cebada Street after the property owner contacted HSI to report he suspected her house was being used to harbor migrants. The group inside the house consisted of nine undocumented citizens from Mexico and four from Guatemala. Agents arrested a U.S. citizen and charged him with human smuggling.
The migrants had been at the stash house for a day. Though the conditions inside the stash house were better than most, the migrants were crammed into small quarters. The group consisted of 10 men, two women and a juvenile. The migrants’ ages ranged from 16 to 44. They were all turned over to U.S. Border Patrol for processing.
“Airbnb stash houses is a new trend. It’s become the popular alternative to motels or hotels because smugglers can book them online in their home country and check in remotely without having to meet the property owner in person. At times, the smugglers tend to damage the Airbnb property at the owner’s expense,” said HSI El Paso acting Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to vigorously pursue members of transnational criminal networks that exploit and endanger people they smuggle into our country. Human smugglers are driven by human greed and heartlessness, and HSI and our law enforcement partners will keep working towards the shared goals of securing our borders and protecting our local communities.”
The primary mission of HSI’s BEST is to combat emerging and existing transnational criminal organizations by employing the full range of federal, state, local, tribal and international law enforcement authorities and resources in the fight to identify, investigate, disrupt and dismantle these organizations at every level of operation. The BEST investigative model is a comprehensive response to the growing threat to border security, public safety and national security. BESTs eliminate the barriers between federal and local investigations (access to both federal and state prosecutors) and close the gap with international partners in multinational criminal investigations.
Members of the public who have information about smuggling activity are urged to call the HSI Tip Line at 877-4-HSI-TIP.
For additional information about HSI El Paso’s investigative efforts, follow at @HSIElPaso.