Houston police on Friday found more than 90 people crammed inside a two-story home, some showing symptoms of COVID-19, in what they believe to be a human smuggling case.
Officers were initially responding to a reported kidnapping call on tips they received Thursday night.
“When we got into the house, we realized that there were over 90 people inside,” Assistant Chief Daryn Edwards told reporters outside the home Friday afternoon.
About five people in the home were women and the rest were men. The youngest were in their ’20s and the oldest appeared to be in their ’30s, said Edwards.
”This is obviously not something we see often, but it is disturbing,” Edwards said, adding that the situation struck him as ”more of a smuggling thing and not a trafficking thing.”
All 90 people inside have to be tested for coronavirus before being relocated because some were showing symptoms of COVID-19, including fever and loss of smell.
Police were also bringing food and water to the home because the people inside told officials they hadn’t eaten ”in a while.”
No one was tied up.
The home was being rented to a single man, according to property records obtained by Fox News.
Border Patrol agents on Wednesday raided four human smuggling houses in Texas this week, finding 52 migrants. On Thursday, agents in Edinburg, Texas, found a stash house with 27 people inside.
The reports come as the Department of Homeland Security looks to crack down on human smuggling groups at the southern border. Troy Miller, acting commissioner of CBP, on Tuesday said his agency had rescued 4,766 migrants along the border since October who had been abandoned by smugglers.
Through Operation Sentinel, DHS will partner with the FBI, State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration to disrupt smuggling organizations’ access to profit.
“We know all too well that these organizations put profit over human life with devastating consequences,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We intend to disrupt every facet of the logistical network that these organizations use.”
Source: Newmax
