San Diego
Acting on tips, the U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday arrested 68 illegal aliens at a “drop house” in the Logan Heights neighborhood, said Ed Pyeatt, Border Patrol supervisory agent in San Diego.
On Monday, Border Patrol agents arrested 76 illegal aliens in another Logan Heights house.
The aliens were crammed into the San Diego dwellings awaiting transportation to Los Angeles, where they hoped to find work, Pyeatt said. Smugglers routinely make use of such drop houses, but Pyeatt said it was unusual to discover two houses in the same neighborhood on successive days.
Most of those arrested were Mexican citizens and will be returned to Mexico, Pyeatt said. Citizens of several other Latin American nations were also found.
The aliens, mostly young men, had paid smugglers from $190 to $400 to be transported from Tijuana to Los Angeles, Pyeatt said.
Border Patrol agents are investigating both cases.
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