When Border Patrol Agents working at a checkpoint made an arrest of a smuggler and three persons who were illegally present in the United States, they also discovered the existence of a local stash house. Human stash houses are commonly used by criminal organizations to hold smuggled people in often sub$-$human conditions. Given the seriousness of this crime, all smugglers face a charge of $8$ USC $1324-$ alien smuggling $-$ which carries a maximum sentence of up to $20$ years in federal prison.