Three Men Charged With Smuggling Dozens Of Migrants Inside Mobile Home In New Mexico

CBP — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patch on the uniform of Rodolfo Karisch, Rio Grande Valley sector chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol. Alex Edelman/Getty Images

Three men have been indicted for their role in the smuggling of dozens of migrants in a mobile home in New Mexico earlier this year.

Concretely, the men have been charged with conspiracy, transportation and harboring of illegal aliens, according to Border Report.

The incident unfolded after agencies received information that migrants were inside a home in a small town in New Mexico just north of El Paso.

After reaching the home, the agents saw a man who exited the house and approached him. He identified himself as Guatemalan and said he did not have documents to be in the country.

Most people found in the home told agents they had scaled the border wall and were picked up by vehicles. The men identified as being in charged of them admitted to picking them up.

It is the latest of several such cases that have made headlines over the past months. In late May two Texans pleaded guilty to charging thousands of dollars to smuggle migrants into the U.S. through Laredo.

The men in question, Mac Quese Howard and De Richardson Miller, admitted to conspiring to transport migrants through Laredo, in South Texas, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said, according to Border Report.

The men were caught after attempting to circumvent a Border Patrol checkpoint near Laredo. After being stopped for the traffic violation, authorities found three migrants hidden in the back seat of the car.

After being detained, the men confessed they had traveled from their home outside Lubbock to Laredo to take the migrants, whose ultimate destination was San Antonio. They expected to receive $5,000 for driving the migrants. They could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and get a fine of up to $250,000.

Earlier in May a dozen migrants were found hidden inside hollow hay bales following a traffic stop in the state.

Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek said an official stopped a pickup truck carrying a trailer loaded with the bales about 90 miles east of San Antonio.

A closer inspection of the vehicle showed that the bales had been "meticulously altered and hollowed out to create concealed compartments," the sheriff said.

After looking inside, authorities found metal frameworks and "multiple undocumented individuals being smuggled in dangerously confined spaces."