Marfa border agents find Chinese migrants hiding in abandoned cemetery shack

Border Patrol agents found a group of undocumented Chinese immigrants hiding inside an abandoned shack Monday at the Marfa cemetery.

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Border Patrol agents found a group of undocumented Chinese immigrants hiding inside an abandoned shack Monday at the Marfa cemetery.

The Border agents from the Big Bend Sector’s Marfa Station responded to a call for assistance from a Presidio County Sheriff’s deputy, who said he tried to pull over a GMC pickup that didn’t stop.

While searching for the truck, agents spotted a subject near the cemetery. The agents then searched the area on foot and spotted footprints that led them to the shack.

Inside the shack were 10 Chinese nationals who were in the country illegally, according to a Border Patrol news release. They were arrested and taken to the Marfa Border Patrol Station for processing.

“Today was a prime example of the unity of effort that we have with our fellow state and local law enforcement agencies,” Big Bend Sector Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Mathew J. Roggow said in a statement. “These arrests would not have been possible without the assistance of the Marfa Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Game Wardens, and the diligent efforts of the Presidio and Brewster County Sheriff’s Office.”

A sheriff’s deputy from Brewster County, which is approximately 10 miles west of Alpine, Texas, found the truck. This case was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.