Border Patrol announced Maine agents discovered a human smuggling attempt Wednesday in Lisbon, Maine, which is located in Androscoggin County. Border patrol agents were able to identify a house in Lisbon that was being used to house undocumented migrants, and border patrol removed 17 migrants from the house. The migrants were from Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Agents from the Rangeley Border Patrol Station were following up on information related to a hit-and-run accident that led them to the house and the discovery of the migrants. The border patrol agents discovered that the migrants were working for a Massachusetts-based energy company. The Massachusetts company was renting the house to provide a place for the migrants to stay.
Chief Patrol Agent of the Houlton Sector William J. Maddocks said, “U.S. Border Patrol will continue to protect our local communities here in Maine and the U.S. as a whole by ensuring those illegally entering the country are apprehended." No one is made safer by allowing criminal activity to go unchecked." "Immigration law violations are no different, and criminal activity without consequence is not in our community or national interests." Maddocks also said, “We are seeing a sharp increase in the flow of illegal labor in and out of Maine.” “Housing 17 people in one house is unsafe and degrading. The exploitation of the undocumented population will continue as long as there is no consequence. We will do all we can to remove the incentives that drive such exploitation, including the continued issuance of civil penalties, fines, and seeking federal criminal prosecution through the U.S. Attorney’s office for every criminal law violation we encounter.”
The 17 migrants were transported to the Rangeley Border Patrol Station for processing, and two of the migrants were found to have re-entered the United States after having been previously removed. The rest of the migrants were entered into removal proceedings under Title 8.
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