Authorities find suspected stash house for human trafficking in NM

The Associated Press
January 23, 2019 03:27 PM

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (AP) - Authorities from the United States and Mexico are investigating after a 17-year-old from Guatemala and his father say they were held against their will in a house in Mexico as part of a human trafficking operation.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Tuesday that the teen, after being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, told agents he was able to escape the house and run north across the international border.

Border Patrol says the teen's father later was apprehended by agents near where his son had been encountered.

The father and son were reunited at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station.

Border Patrol says an investigation uncovered the location of the stash house where the two males say they were held and extorted for money in Colonia Rancho Anapra south of Sunland Park.