AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eleven people were hospitalized and seven smuggling suspects were arrested Thursday after authorities found more than two dozen migrants who had been driven from the border packed in a secret compartment of a trailer with little water and in sweltering heat.

Acting on a tip about a smuggling operation, authorities followed the trailer as it was towed to a rural residence outside San Antonio, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

Temperatures in San Antonio were in the high 90s Thursday afternoon and were expected to top 100, according to the National Weather Service.

The smuggling sting came two days after President Joe Biden unveiled plans to enact immediate significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as the White House tries to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November elections.

Fifty-three migrants, including eight children, died after being trapped in a sweltering semi-trailer that had been driven from the border city of Laredo.

Salazar blamed Mexican cartels for the operation broke up Thursday, and noted bullet proof vests and rifles were found on the property.

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