7 suspects arrested, 12 migrants hospitalized after Texas human smuggling sting
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Twelve people were hospitalized after a group of migrants smuggled from the Mexico border were found in miserable conditions outside San Antonio.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office found 26 migrants Thursday who were smuggled in secret compartments in a long, flatbed trailer pulled by a pickup truck.
They were being transferred to a shack when law enforcement caught the operation in the act.
Seven suspected smugglers are now in custody. The sheriff there says this was cartel-related and had harsh words for the smugglers involved in moving people like a product.
New video shows the trailer that 26 people were smuggled in. The pipes atop were a decoy. The space below was a hidden compartment where they were stashed for three hours.
"Underneath was a large false compartment that these people were just laying down in there, exposed to the elements basically, laying on real hard mesh," said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
The sheriff's office says it got a tip about a smuggling operation early Thursday. They arrived to see the migrants being offloaded to a stash house. The sheriff's office says it was more shack than house.
"In some areas, it’s elevated, but its open air. The windows are open. There's no AC in there. There's no running water," Sheriff Salazar said. "They've got buckets everyone has been using for toilets. I don’t even see any source for drinking water, but its miserable conditions there, and it's just blazing hot in there."
12 of the 26 migrants were transported to hospitals for heat-related and other minor injuries. Only one remained hospitalized late Friday.
Deputies say the migrants came from Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela and Guatemala. The sheriff says one young woman paid $16,000 in U.S. currency.
"There's 26 smuggling victims. This is a big money operation," Salazar said.
Seven suspects were arrested. Three are charged with human trafficking, three with operating a stash house and one for evading arrest.
Featured
Biden administration announces rule aiming to speed up asylum screening process for some migrants
The new rule aims to speed up the asylum claims process for some migrants.
Authorities say they uncovered bulletproof vests and long rifles during their search of the property.
"This is the fault of the bloodthirsty organizations that are bringing these people across and putting themselves in harm’s way," Salazar said.
San Antonio was the site of the nation's deadliest smuggling case in 2022 when 53 migrants, including eight children, died after they were trapped in a trailer with a malfunctioning air conditioning unit.
Featured
Death toll rises to 51 after migrants found in abandoned tractor-trailer in Texas
Dozens of people were found dead in an abandoned tractor-trailer on a remote road in San Antonio. Sixteen others were hospitalized, including four children.
This time, Sheriff Salazar says they got to everyone in time.
"Clearly cartel related. So at present, we're just going to be unraveling this whole thing," he said. "But we can tell you definitely we think everyone is out of the woods in terms of losing their life."
The one migrant who remains hospitalized is there for dehydration and cardiac-related issues.