54 migrants found in ‘deplorable conditions’ in border stash house

US Border Patrol agents found 54 illegal migrants “living in deplorable conditions” at a stash house near El Paso, Texas, officials said over the weekend.

Six of the migrants had “prior removal orders” against them and will be prosecuted, El Paso Sector Chief Anthony Good said Saturday.

The Border Patrol’s Santa Teresa Anti-Smuggling Unit said the dozens of migrants were living in a single house in Santa Teresa in New Mexico, fewer than 14 miles from El Paso.

Photos from the arrest show rows of migrants seated along the front of the house surrounded by trash.

Inside the home, several people could be seen inside a single room that had three mattresses tossed on the floor for them to sleep on. The room was also covered in dirt and trash.

Saturday’s case is only the latest example of undocumented migrants living in squalor after crossing the border. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Customs and Border Patrol announced last month that more than 140 immigrants were found living in similar conditions across the state.

Officials said during last month’s raids, one house had as many as 95 migrants in it, while another was packed with more than 50 people.

Border Patrol officials have warned these cases would only become more common after last week’s end to the restrictive pandemic-era Title 42. The expiration of the regulation has led to thousands more migrants arriving at the border to seek asylum in the US.

Immigration advocates have described the situation as a crisis, with many migrants living in trash-strewn encampments along the US-Mexico border, including in California.

In Texas, the state’s National Guard was deployed in full force to hold off dozens of groups from attempting to enter the country illegally through the Rio Grande.

While the end of Title 42 has not yet yielded the high-volume rush that was previously predicted, much of the blame for the current chaos at the border has been placed on the Biden administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has defended the administration’s work, saying the federal government has spent the past 18 months expanding border-patrol stations and providing law enforcement and communities with the resources to handle the influx of migrants.