Bexar County attack leaves 7 arrested, 11 migrants hospitalized – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Seven migrant smuggling suspects were arrested and 11 migrants were hospitalized after a law enforcement operation Thursday near San Antonio, authorities said.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said a total of 26 migrants were found at a home in South Bexar County. Of them, 11 were taken to the hospital for heat-related injuries, Salazar said.

Authorities were notified of a smuggling operation and followed a trailer that was towed to a rural residence. The migrants were crammed into a fake compartment under the trailer for three hours without water, Salazar said.

Temperatures in San Antonio were in the 90s Thursday afternoon and were expected to exceed 100, according to the National Weather Service.

“We think everyone is out of the woods, to the point of losing their lives,” Salazar said.

The nationality of most of the migrants was not immediately known, but all appeared to be adults, Salazar said, adding that he believed they were driven to the area from the border city of Laredo. One woman told authorities she was from Guatemala and paid $16,000 to be brought to the United States.

The incident came two days after President Joe Biden unveiled plans to immediately impose significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the White House attempts to neutralize immigration as as political responsibility as the November elections approach.

Starting April 1, the cost of some standard immigration application fees will be increased and others will be reduced.

San Antonio was the scene of the nation's deadliest human trafficking episode in June 2022. Fifty-three migrants, including eight children, died after being trapped in a sweltering tractor-trailer driven from Laredo. The caravan had a faulty air conditioning system. When authorities discovered it on a remote San Antonio road, 48 migrants were already dead and five more died later in hospitals. The migrants who died in this incident came from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.