Texas Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector, along with the state's Department of Public Safety troopers and Webb County police officers uncovered another stash house and captured over 30 illegal aliens, the US Customs and Border Protection reported on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the raid took place on November 17 and was noteworthy for an amusing encounter with one of the illegal immigrants. The man literally climbed down from the ceiling when the service agents noticed that a ceiling tile was broken and the man was hiding in the space in between.
In total, there were 31 people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico inside the house, including five children; three of them were unaccompanied minors.
According to the statement, because the detainees were not wearing face masks, "they were provided the equipment and were medically screened before being processed accordingly."
Two years ago, the agency revealed how migrants who were no less resourceful tried to get into the country using household appliances.
This photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2019 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows hands held up by a person or persons hiding in a washing machine, among 11 Chinese nationals found by CBP agents hiding in furniture and appliances inside a moving truck stopped Saturday, Dec. 7, while entering the U.S. from Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego, federal officials said.
© AP Photo / U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Apprehensions in stash houses make only a small percentage of the total apprehensions made in the Laredo Sector of the border, per the CBP. And agents from the Laredo Sector make the vast majority of their arrests while conducting linewatch operations near the border.
Stash houses, according to the CBP, are a threat to national security and communities not only because of the illegal activities they are tied to, but also because of the absence of sanitary conditions, which can lead to them becoming a breeding ground for illnesses and contagious diseases.
The most recent data from the agency indicates that an all-time high of 1.7 million illegal aliens was captured over the US southern border between October 2020 and September 2021. The Biden administration's permissive immigration policies are considered to be a major contributor to the migrant inflow at the US-Mexico border.