Thread: TX-Bomb squad assists raid

Bomb squad assists raid
Comments 3
Agents find mortar as 52 people taken into federal custody
April 29, 2010 10:03 PM

BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO



More than 50 undocumented immigrants were discovered Thursday in a stash house on North Vermillion Street in a federal investigation into human smuggling.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are leading the investigation, agency spokesperson Nina Pruneda said.

A search warrant that federal agents executed led to the discovery in the stash house at the 1400 block of North Vermillion Street, an officer said.

It also brought the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Brownsville Police Department to the scene when a mortar was found at the location.

"We were concerned about the mortar," Sheriff Omar Lucio said of the ordinance. BPD sent its bomb squad to the scene as backup assistance, Sgt. Juan Lopez said.

Pruneda told The Brownsville Herald that the device turned out to be just a souvenir, but that no one had taken any chances because it could have been dangerous.

Federal officers arrived at the stash house at 7:50 a.m. And, in a written statement that ICE also issued, it is noted that no one had been charged because agents were still talking to more than 50 people found in the house. The people are from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

U.S. Border Patrol agents also were at the scene and assisted in transporting the immigrants from the house to another location, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Joe Treviño said.


http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/h ... treet.html

"We were concerned about the mortar," Sheriff Omar Lucio said of the ordinance. BPD sent its bomb squad to the scene as backup assistance, Sgt. Juan Lopez said.

The obvious question. Why would "poor migrants only looking to feed their families: have a MORTAR.

The people are from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Did the police intentionally "profile" this house because they saw a lot of hispanics hanging around? I don't think so - many policemen are Americans of Hispanic decent and should be offended at the racist accusations from the illegal supporters.