The police in Phoenix found the house, on South Seventh Street, and raided it on Thursday night. They found what has become an all too common sight in Phoenix: a large group of migrants being held against their will.
This time, though, most of those inside were crying babies and scared teenagers from Mexico and Central America, all but one of them unaccompanied by an adult.
They had been fed and did not appear to have been hurt, the authorities said. But the smugglers had refused to release them, even though their families had paid thousands of dollars to get them into the United States, until more money was handed over.
“We haven't seen anything like this before,” said Capt. Fred Zumbo, who leads the Arizona Department of Public Safety's illegal immigration task force. “Imagine what these children went through.”
The authorities arrested a man and a woman, Jaime Cruz Gutiérrez, 44, and Olga Marino Fuentes, 41, both Mexican citizens, on charges of kidnapping, extortion and smuggling humans for a profit.
Television footage from inside the bungalow showed food in the cupboard and diapers, clothes and trash strewn across the floors. There was a big-screen television in one room, and dozens of DVDs. The children sat huddled on the ground in front of the house as the police interviewed them in the hope of tracking down other smugglers.
The authorities said the parents had probably crossed the border illegally and arranged with the smugglers to have the children follow, officials said.
Only one of the 10 children, a 15-year-old Mexican girl, had been in the house with her mother. They were to be deported, the authorities said.
The three sisters whose mother alerted the authorities were awaiting a ruling from an immigration judge on whether they could remain in the country.
The other children were given shelter in group homes as officials sought to find their parents.
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