EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The flow of migrants to the U.S. border remains at record lows, but people are still coming in search of the American dream and smugglers are waiting for them.
This week, police in Juarez, Mexico, rescued 23 migrants held for ransom in homes not far from Rio Grande and arrested seven suspected smugglers.
Juarez municipal police on Tuesday morning responded to a 911 call in the Castillo Peraza neighborhood involving a Colombian migrant who sneaked out of a smugglers’ stash house and requested help.
Police arrived at the home, heard calls for help and entered to rescue another five Colombian nationals, including a child. Two men and a woman police identified as the stash house caretakers were arrested.
On Tuesday night, Chihuahua state police officers converged on a house about a mile south of the Rio Grande after receiving a call about a second migrant stash house. Officers noticed a suspicious vehicle and attempted to question the driver, who pointed a gun at police and tried to flee, the state police said in a statement.
Officers arrested the gunman after a brief standoff and found two rifles, two semi-automatic handguns and $16,220 in cash inside the black Chevrolet Malibu. The man led police to a house where officers found 17 migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and southern Mexico.
A man and a woman preventing the migrants from leaving the home were arrested. The state police identified the three suspected migrant smugglers as Santos Omar N., 31; Octavio N., 22; and Soledad N., 33. The woman allegedly was carrying a gun and in possession of an undetermined amount of U.S. currency, the state police said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows 7,989 migrants were apprehended in October while trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico. Only 1,381 of those attempted entry in El Paso and Hudspeth counties in West Texas, or the desert in southern New Mexico.
ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.