Shocking Conditions Found During Raid Of Washington City House

Twenty-seven people, most of whom were illegal immigrants, were discovered in a house in Washington City Wednesday morning.

The house, which is now condemned, also had impromptu partitions, hastily built add-ons, holes dug into the foundation and multiple other violations

The raid was conducted by a combined task force of Washington City Police, Homeland Security, the US Marshall's Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and others, according to a press release by Washington City.

"We have zero tolerance for this kind of thing in Washington," Mayor Kress Staheli.said. "These things take time and we have to do it the right way, but as you can see, we do not permit this here, especially when it involves potentially violent individuals."

Most of the occupants of the home were in the United States illegally, and several of the occupants were known criminals.

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The roughly 2,700-square foot manufactured home includes a basement and Staheli said they had divided the home into a dozen or more "mini-bedrooms," with partitions cutting across windows and doors.

Because of the unsafe add-ons and holes dug into the property, Washington City condemned the house. Staheli said it will likely be destroyed.

On top of the overcrowding, the task force turned up narcotics and fake identification documents.

As a result, several individuals were taken into custody on charges related to those bogus documents and drug possession.

ICE was also on the scene and detained a number of people regarding their immigration status.

During the search for illegal narcotics and fraudulent documents, the sanitary and living conditions inside the home were found to be unsuitable.

Some rooms had exposed electrical panels/wires, no windows for bedrooms, kitchens in many small rooms built in as bedrooms and many other alarming items.

Inside one basement room, the footings were being exposed and dirt removed from the ground in what appeared to be efforts to make more room for additional occupants of the home.

There are no permits on record for any of these structural or remodel changes.

The Washington City Building Inspector and Washington City Code Enforcement were contacted to assist with evaluating the living conditions and suitability of the home for occupancy.

With their assessment of the home, the home was deemed to be unsafe and unsanitary for occupancy. Thus, the home has been condemned at this time.

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