Illegal immigrants rescued in Elgin

ELGIN, Texas (KXAN) - Two men from Guatemala were rescued from a home in Bastrop County on Wednesday. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office was tipped off by a third Guatamalan man who snuck out of the home in Elgin. He said they were  being held against their will by men who smuggled them into the country. 

In addition to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office SWAT, vice units and members of the Austin Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were involved in the rescue.

Four men were arrested at 1358 FM 1704 and identified by agents as suspected human smugglers. They are being charged in federal court with Harboring Illegal Aliens.

The hostages told officials the people holding them had threatened bodily harm if they tried to leave.

The suspects had reportedly called the victims' family in Guatemala and demanded more money for the release of the men.

The house reportedly had air conditioning, and the victims were getting small amounts of water and being fed Ramen Noodles. The home was a rental house, and the home's owner, Linda Massengale, said the person who had rented it had been there two to three months.

She said she was shocked when agents came to her front door, because she had never noticed anything strange.

Authorities said that they learned ten more illegal immigrants had apparently been living at the residence, but had been removed on Tuesday to an unknown location before the arrests, officials said.

“Instances of human trafficking and human smuggling have evolved into a very profitable industry and are becoming a significant problem in the area. It is not uncommon for smuggled people to be subjected to physical and sexual abuse while being held hostage in exchange for additional smuggling fees," said Sheriff Terry Pickering in a statement released to the media.

A similar bust happened in July 2009 in Bastrop. In that case, two dozen illegal immigrants were smuggled across the border, beaten and held at gunpoint in a mobile home. Those immigrants were from El Salvador and Honduras.

In another case in Austin in July 2009, Austin police broke up a human trafficking ring and arrested Luis Adrian Alegria. He was accused of abusing three men by beating, torturing and threatening to kill them for money.

The Bastrop investigation is ongoing as ICE agents work to identify all persons involved in the human smuggling ring.