Adult migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador were arrested by the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) earlier this month, according to an August 9 news release from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

"Human smugglers prey on the desperation of foreign nationals with hopes of coming to the United States to chase the American dream. However, what they encounter is the American nightmare in the hands of callous transnational criminal organizations who see them as nothing else than merchandise. HSI is committed to continue working with our law enforcement partners to aggressively seek those who undermine our nation’s immigration laws and victimize people for profit," said HSI El Paso acting Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens in the August 9 news release.

BEST is a task force that targets transnational criminal organizations with the efforts of federal, state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement to identify, disrupt and dismantle these organizations, according to its website.

According to Anthony Scott Good, USBP El Paso Sector Chief, "In FY24, Border Patrol agents, in conjunction with our law enforcement partners, have rescued approximately 2,300 migrants from stash houses. These stash houses commonly are unsanitary, overcrowded, unsafe, and sometimes with little to no running water," he said in the August 9 news release.

Agents with the US Border Patrol (USBP) and the Texas Department of Public Safety assisted BEST in this case.

Homeland Security Investigations is the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are more than 10,000 employees of HSI who work in 235 offices in the US and 93 overseas locations. HSI was created in 2010 when the Offices of Investigations, Intelligence, and International Affairs within US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were combined into a new directorate known as Homeland Security Investigations.