EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Smugglers used a storage shed with limited airflow and small windows to stash 72 migrants, said U.S. Border Patrol officials, who also arrested a man wanted by Interpol for murder.
Acting on a tip about a possible migrant stash house, federal, state and local authorities served a warrant on the property on Overland Avenue on Tuesday in South El Paso.
Agents described the conditions at the property as squalid, overcrowded and filled with trash.
Among the 72 individuals, the Border Patrol said, were two residence caretakers who will face human smuggling charges.
As part of the investigation, agents learned of a second stash house down the road on Val Verde Street, where another five migrants were held.
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Officials said the 77 migrants — from Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic — were in good condition and ultimately processed for removal.
During a check of their records, agents also determined that one of the migrants, a man from the Dominican Republic, was wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, for murder in his home country. It is unclear at which of the two stash houses he was found.