Border Patrol agents found 22 people hidden under a trailer floor. It happened near Carrizo Springs, Texas. That is about 40 miles from the border. It was one of two smuggling busts in South Texas in late July.

Agents said the group had no way to get out. Men and women were stuck in a tight space. It was hot outside. The Border Patrol gave a statement. It said, "With no easy means of escape and soaring summer temperatures, this smuggling operation showed a callous disregard for human life."

The smugglers now face charges. Agents took the truck and the trailer. The bust happened in the Del Rio Sector. That sector patrols this part of the border.

A day earlier, agents broke up a second smuggling case. This one was in the Rio Grande Valley. It centered on a house in Edinburg, Texas. Border Patrol agents were watching the house. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations helped too. They believed the house was tied to a smuggling ring.

Agents saw a car leave the house. They called the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office for help. Deputies stopped the car near a store in Alamo, Texas. The driver was Misael Dominguez-Penagos. He is from Mexico. He has no legal status in the U.S. Deputies say two more people with no legal status were riding with him.

Agents went back to the house in Edinburg. They searched it. They found 22 more people inside. Court papers say the group came from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela, and Honduras. They were waiting to be moved deeper into the U.S.

Dominguez-Penagos talked to investigators. He said he got paid to move and hide people. He said he worked for the smuggling group for months. He went to federal court on Friday. A judge ordered him held. No bond was set.

These two busts show how smuggling works now on the Texas border. Years ago, big groups crossed and gave themselves up in the open. That does not happen much now. Smugglers now hide people in trailers, houses, and cars. They try to slip past more patrols. Border security has gotten tighter in recent years. That has pushed smuggling crews to take bigger risks with the people they move.

The stash houses in these cases are often bad places. Many have no working bathroom. Many have no air conditioning. Many have no clean water. People get crammed inside for hours or days. Agents say more of these houses keep turning up. They are in normal neighborhoods, not just near the river.

For families in the Rio Grande Valley, these cases send a clear message. Smuggling has not stopped. It has just moved further from the border. It stays more hidden too. Deputies and federal agents are working together more. They want to catch drivers and house operators before someone gets hurt or dies.

Stash houses can pop up on any block. Neighbors often do not know what is next door. In the Edinburg case, agents were already watching the house before the arrest. That kind of watching, plus help from local deputies, is how many of these houses get found.

Dominguez-Penagos faces a federal smuggling charge. That charge can mean years in federal prison. His case is now moving through federal court in South Texas. He will stay in federal custody while the case moves forward. The Carrizo Springs case is still open. No one has been named yet in that case. Border Patrol says agents are still looking for others tied to both smuggling networks. El Tejano will keep following both cases as they move through court.