The 15-year-old suspect arrested Tuesday had six outstanding warrants for robberies in Bexar, Williamson and Travis counties, BCSO officials said. Credit: Facebook / Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Authorities have arrested seven people in connection with a migrant-smuggling operation busted by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday.

Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters his office received a tip about a stash house in southern portion of the county. After surveying the property, which Salazar described as a “shack,” from the air, authorities moved in.

A total of 26 people  were removed from the property, 11 of whom were hospitalized for minor injuries and heat-related illnesses, according to Salazar. Even so, he said he couldn’t conclusively say that all of those individuals were victims of the alleged smugglers.

“It’s quite common for coyotes to pass themselves off as victims,” Salazar told reporters. “So, in other words they’ll blend in with the crowd of victims. And only until we start drawing information out of them is when we’re able to determine this is not a victim, this is a bad guy.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security are are assisting BSCO in its investigation, Salazar said.

The migrants were being transported to the stash house without food or water while hidden in a secret compartment of a gooseneck trailer, according to the sheriff. Temperatures on Thursday climbed into the triple digits.

Despite the intense heat, Salazar said he expects everyone picked up at the stash house to survive the ordeal.

“We think everybody is out of the woods as far as losing their life,” he said.

The bust comes almost two years after 46 migrants died in a tractor-trailer abandoned on a remote dirt road in San Antonio. The incident also comes days after Salazar and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg traveled to the White House to attend President Joe Biden’s unveiling of an executive order aimed at slowing border crossings by asylum seekers.

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This article appears in May 1-14, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...