According to the Texas Sheriff, seven suspects were arrested and eleven migrants were hospitalized following an operation near San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO – Seven suspects in connection with migrant smuggling were arrested and 11 migrants were hospitalized following a police operation Thursday near San Antonio, authorities said.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said a total of 26 migrants were found in a home in southern Bexar County. Of those, 11 were taken to the hospital with heat-related injuries, Salazar said.

Authorities received a tip about a smuggling operation and followed a trailer being towed to a rural housing complex. The migrants were crammed into a false compartment under the trailer for three hours without water, Salazar said.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in San Antonio were just above 35 degrees on Thursday afternoon and were expected to exceed 38 degrees.

“We believe everyone is over the hill in terms of the loss of 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 had been driven into the area from the border city of Laredo. One woman told authorities she was from Guatemala and had paid $16,000 to be brought to the United States.

The incident came two days after President Joe Biden announced plans to impose significant restrictions on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, effective immediately, as the White House seeks to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November election.

San Antonio was the scene of the country’s deadliest human smuggling incident in June 2022. 53 migrants, including eight children, died after becoming trapped in a sweltering semi-trailer coming from Laredo. The trailer’s air conditioning was malfunctioning. By the time authorities found it on a remote road in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead and five more later died in hospitals. The migrants killed in this incident were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.