With more than 760 criminal illegal immigrant arrests since Oct. 1, the Laredo, Texas, sector of the southern border is seeing an increase of between 900 and 1,000 percent from last year.
According to Customs and Border Protection, the agency saw only 60 arrests the previous fiscal year from October to June.
“It is closer to 1,000 percent,” a CBP spokesperson told Newsmax on Friday.
For example, Laredo Sector agents arrested a Sureño Gang member at a "stash house" on Wednesday. Agents apprehended Fidel Alexis Lopez-Mendoza, 20, a Mexican national who has a criminal history including robbery, battery, interference with emergency communication, and theft of property from incidents in Benton, Texas, according to a CBP press release.
Lopez-Mendoza was among several people in the house who are in the country illegally, CBP said.
The Webster's Dictionary website defines a stash house as “a house where weapons and supplies are hidden.”
On the same day, CBP agents and Laredo police shut down three such houses in the sector and arrested 182 illegal immigrants in the city.
The people arrested are from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador, the release said.
“The identification and interdiction of these stash houses and the apprehension of over 180 non-citizens in less than two hours highlights the challenges that our agents and law enforcement partners face on a daily basis,” Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak said in the release. “These numbers also illustrate the potential risk to our communities from this criminal activity and those perpetrating it. I ask that our neighbors throughout our area continue to provide tips regarding possible stash houses to us, Crime Stoppers, or other law enforcement agencies.”
Meanwhile, law enforcement is looking for more than 80 migrants that they believe came across the border in an air-conditioned truck that was found abandoned outside the city, the New York Post reported.
Local police responded to calls about banging coming from inside the truck around 4 a.m. Friday, the Post reported.
Border crossings have surged since the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January, who immediately reversed the immigration and border polices of former President Donald Trump.
According to the Post, the more “welcoming” tone of the new administration prompted a “flood” of illegal immigration at the southern border with refugees from Mexico and Central American countries, including thousands of unescorted children.
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