Ten men from Mexico and two women from El Salvador are in the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents for processing after armed men allegedly held 12 suspected illegal immigrants in a Brownsville house for several days while trying to get money from their relatives were arrested after a three-hour standoff with police, on Monday. They told police their captors had held them in the home on the Mexico border for four days.
Sgt. Jimmy Manrique of the Brownsville police said they were thirsty, hungry and had swollen knees from being forced to kneel in a room.
The standoff began after one immigrant escaped and ran to a nearby home to call police. It ended peacefully after police surrounded the home and negotiators diffused the situation, Manrique said.
“They were being held against their will,” he said. “(The captors) were calling family members asking for more money.”
Three men were arrested. Two tried to mix in with the immigrants after the standoff ended, and S.W.A.T. members found the third hiding in a shed behind the house, Manrique said. Their identities weren’t released.
The men were armed with handguns, but no shots were fired.
