Feds Discover 108 Illegals In West Phoenix Drop House

Neighbors noticed suspicious activity involving vehicles entering a garage, closing the door, then quickly exiting at a home in the 900 block of West Vernon Ave.

Federal immigration agents on Wednesday found 108 illegal-immigrant suspects crammed into a west Phoenix drop house, making it the largest drop-house bust in more than three years.

Neighbors noticed suspicious activity involving vehicles entering a garage, closing the door, then quickly exiting at a home in the 900 block of West Vernon Ave.

Agents assigned to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's HSI Drop House Response Group raided the four-bedroom house on Wednesday. The agents knocked on the front door and were given permission to enter.

The aliens are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. There were five teenage boys and 14 women found among the group.

Agents identified several suspected human smugglers at the scene and are conducting interviews as part of an ongoing investigation into a broader smuggling scheme.

This was the largest drop house discovered in the Phoenix metropolitan area since March 2008 when 124 aliens were apprehended at a drop house in Peoria. It's the second largest drop house discovered since ICE began tracking them in January 2006.

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