Local law enforcement agencies worked together to raid a stash house in Edinburg that was housing 69 illegal immigrants.
Border Patrol agents received an anonymous phone call on Tuesday about a house holding several undocumented aliens on Ivy Lane.
The caller told agents that they saw three cars drop off 30 to 40 people who ran into a white house on the property.
The next day, an agent surveyed the property and saw a man, who was driving a Toyota 4Runner, stop to talk to another man who came outside from the house.
The agent witnessed the driver leaving the property and gave Fraud, Intelligent, Smuggling, and Terrorism Team (FIST) agents and Edinburg Police Department the vehicle’s information.
The car was stopped and an Edinburg police officer and two FIST agents began questioning the driver.
Jose Angel Gonzalez-Hernandez, in the U.S. illegally, told them that he had just left the stash house and there had been about 70 undocumented aliens inside.
The FIST team drove up to the house and were able to detain 65 people who were taken to the McAllen Border Patrol station for processing.
Once in court, Gonzalez-Hernandez said that he was being paid $300 to drop off food and sometimes illegal aliens by the man he had been talking to outside, Luis Mejia-Ortez.
Mejia-Ortez, from Honduras, refused to answer any questions in court.
Three of the immigrants staying inside the house were being held as witnesses in court and asked questions.
One of the witnesses said that Gonzalez-Hernandez would take them food everyday and Mejia-Ortez would consistently tell the aliens to be quiet and not make noise.
The two other witnesses said they were both involved in separate attempts to travel further north with other immigrants but those attempts had failed.
The Judge denied bonds for Gonzalez- Hernandez and for Mejia-Ortez until a court hearing on Wednesday.
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