Smugglers were using an Edinburg hotel to hold people illegally in the country for more than a month, while others were using a storm drain to evade authorities, according to a news release from U.S. Border Patrol.
Agents received a tip about about 1 p.m. Friday that an Edinburg hotel, which was not named in the news release, was being used to harbor people. When agents arrived, they saw two people enter the suspected room with several jugs of water and groceries.
The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office conducted a welfare check and found more than 10 people from Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, inside the room. They said they had been waiting to be transported further into the U.S. for nearly a month, according to the release.
The following day, McAllen Border Patrol agents saw several people entering a storm drain in Hidalgo.
The agents and Hidalgo police officers established a perimeter and were able to apprehend three of them when they exited the drain.
An hour later, three more were apprehended, including an unaccompanied child.
Later that evening, more people entered the same storm drain and law enforcement officers once again apprehended four people who were exiting the drain two hours later, the release said. They came from Mexico and Honduras.
