109 entrants discovered at drop house

Border Patrol: Crossers crammed into 3-bedroom home in Rio Rico
By Dale Quinn
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A team of plainclothes Border Patrol agents found 109 illegal entrants Tuesday in squalid living conditions in a drop house about 60 miles south of Tucson, authorities said Wednesday.

The illegal border crossers were arrested, the home was seized, and six illegal entrants will likely face prosecution for human smuggling in connection with the operation of the drop house, said Sean King a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

The case began when agents in Rio Rico — an area known for human smuggling — saw a vehicle with several passengers and later saw that same vehicle with no passengers, King said.

They questioned the driver and found out he was in the country illegally, and he led them to the drop house, King said. Border Patrol agents seized the vehicle.

King said living conditions in such drop houses — where smugglers hold illegal entrants until they can move them north — can be abhorrent. The entrants use buckets for toilets because the overloaded plumbing gets clogged. The homes aren't cleaned as migrants move through them, and unsanitary conditions escalate, he said.

In this case, more than 100 illegal entrants were crammed into a three-bedroom home littered with soiled clothing and garbage, King said. Several women and children were preparing food in a kitchen littered with paper plates.

- It's interesting to note that this publication has taken "PC" to a new level in calling the illegal aliens "entrants". -mm