Dozens Of Migrants Freed From Mexico Stash House After Woman Manages To Hide Cell Phone From Captors

Police officers in the Mexican state of Chihuahua freed dozens of migrants from a stash house after a woman managed to sneak a cell phone and alert authorities.

Concretely, 28 people were released from the house, located in Porvenir, just across Fort Hancock, Texas. All but two of them are Guatemalans, according to Border Report.

They were taken to a police station in Juarez and then to the Mexican Red Cross to get food and medical screening before being handed over to Mexico's National Migration Institute.

The outlet noted that the area in which the migrants were found is dominated by smugglers linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and the La Linea transnational criminal organization.

Such cases occur on both sides of the border. In December, U.S. Border Patrol agents found 22 migrants in a house in El Paso. Back then, Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said agents responded to the location after receiving a tip about potential illegal activity there.

In August, police in Mexico's Chihuahua City said they had rescued 1,245 migrants from criminal gangs over the past seven months. Abducted migrants are usually held in cramped stash houses, mostly in Juarez near the U.S. border with El Paso, Texas. Mexican officials said the migrants are rarely given food or water.