(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested 70 illegal aliens this past week at human smuggling stash houses operating out of short-term rental properties such as Airbnb.
According to HSI officials, the use of these types of rentals to hide those people is becoming increasingly common.
Jason T. Stevens, acting special agent of HSI El Paso, said, “Airbnb stash houses is a new trend. It’s become the popular alternative to motels or hotels because smugglers can book them online in their home country, and check-in remotely without having to meet the property owner in person.”
He added, “At times, the smugglers tend to damage the Airbnb property at the owner’s expense.”
Moreover, HSI special agents from the Border Enforcement Security Task Force, along with Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers, carried out raids on a series of these human smuggling stash houses in El Paso.
In one instance, an Airbnb property owner contacted law enforcement after discovering their home was being used illegally. Inside, authorities found ten men, two women, and a 16-year-old child.
Officials reported that the illegals had traveled from Mexico and Guatemala.
In turn, a U.S. citizen present at the stash house was arrested on human smuggling charges. DPS officials told a local CBS affiliate that the undocumented were “crammed into small quarters.”
Just two days earlier, HSI agents arrested 56 more illegals from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala at another stash house in the El Paso area.
Over a 12-month period ending in March 2024, HSI officials report nearly 2,300 illegals arrested in stash houses in the El Paso area.
“Human smugglers prey on the desperation of foreign nationals with hopes of coming to the United States to chase the American dream,” Stevens said.
“However, what they encounter is the American nightmare in the hands of callous transnational criminal organizations who see them as nothing else than merchandise,” he concluded.
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