Brownsville Standoff Ends Peacefully

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ After a three-hour standoff with police in Brownsville, armed men who allegedly held 12 suspected illegal immigrants in a house for several days while trying to get money from their relatives were arrested Monday.

A Brownsville police spokesman says the standoff — which began after one immigrant escaped and ran to a nearby home to call police — ended peacefully after police surrounded the home and negotiators diffused the situation.

Three men were arrested.

The police spokesman says two tried to mix in with the immigrants after the standoff ended, and S.W.A.T. members found the third hiding in a shed behind the house. Their identities weren’t released.

The men were armed with handguns, but no shots were fired.

Ten men from Mexico and two women from El Salvador were turned over to Border Patrol for processing. They told police their captors had held them in the home for four days.

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