17 people were arrested Saturday by Tye Police after two different human smuggling busts.
The first group had nine immigrants plus the smuggler.
The second group had six immigrants plus the driver of the vehicle.
Julio Mario-Navicho, 26, and Jose Miguel-Pativo, 29, both from Mexico are booked in the Taylor County Jail on immigration charges.
A post on Facebook from the Tye Police Department says those being smuggled were from Guatemala, Nicaragua, and China.
US Border Patrol, Taylor County Sheriff's Office, Merkle Police Department, and Homeland Security assisted with the bust.
The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration. Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.
This is at least the third group of smugglers Tye Police have caught this year.
Tye Police arrested ten people in a human smuggling bust back in January.