Police said more than twenty people were rescued Thursday evening from a home in Houston where they were being held in a human smuggling operation.
Officers found the people after a man running in the street shouted that he had been kidnapped and that others were being held in the house, according to the police.
Police Chief Jonathon Halliday told reporters at the scene that officers broke into the house and found 29 men and one woman.
“Most of the people said they were arrested in Brownsville between two days and a week and that they were being held there,” Halliday said.
Police said most of those rescued said they were from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras or Cuba.
Halliday said immigration authorities were at the scene and were planning to investigate. Police said the Department of Homeland Security was involved and the victims were cooperating with that agency.
Halliday said three people had been arrested as possible suspects.
All of those rescued, Halliday said, were taken to high school and ate food and clothes, some of which were donated by neighbors.
A request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately received on Thursday night.
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