EDINBURG, Texas — Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents intercepted four migrant smuggling attempts that resulted in 28 arrests within two days.
Agents working at the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint on March 9 flagged a tractor hauling a refrigerated trailer and sent them to the secondary inspection area.
Border Patrol Agents questioned the driver, a citizen of Cuba with a United States employment authorization card. Agents then found ten migrants hiding in the cab of the driver's trailer.
"Three of the ten migrants were unaccompanied minors. All subjects were placed under arrest and escorted into the checkpoint," said Border Patrol in a press release.
Then on March 10, Weslaco Border Patrol Station agents responded to a request for back-up from U.S. Marshals at a residence in Pharr.
"Authorities encountered nine migrants inside the residence. Agents determined the nine migrants were citizens of Mexico and Central America unlawfully present in the U.S. No caretaker was identified at the location," said officials.
Later that morning, on March 10, RGV agents say they responded to a suspected migrant stash house in Alamo, where they apprehended five unlawfully present adult migrants from Mexico and Central America.
That same afternoon, agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers received a tip of migrants being housed at a residence in Brownsville. They apprehended two migrants from Mexico and Honduras at home, and the caretaker, a U.S. citizen.
"Additionally, Rio Grande City Border Patrol Station agents encountered a large group of 249 migrants south of La Grulla. The group consisted of 133 single adults, 74 family members, and 42 unaccompanied minors from Central and South America and Cuba," added Border Patrol officials.
