26 victims rescued after human smuggling bust in Texas
A human smuggling operation was uncovered in Bexar County, Texas Thursday night. Sheriff’s deputies discovered 26 victims in a false compartment in a trailer.
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EL PASO, Texas — Three U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Cavazos have pleaded guilty to a migrant smuggling attempt following a high-speed U.S. Border Patrol chase in West Texas last fall, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Army Pfc. Enrique Jauregui and Spc. Angel Palma pleaded guilty in a federal court in Alpine, Texas, to one count of “aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said in a news release Tuesday. Pfc. Emilio Mendoza Lopez pleaded guilty to the same charge on Jan. 27.
The soldiers were to be paid an unspecified amount of money on Nov. 27 after picking up undocumented migrants along the Rio Grande near Presidio and transporting them to Odessa, Texas, according to federal criminal complaint documents. Prosecutors accused Jauregui of organizing a “smuggling event” and recruiting both Palma and Mendoza Lopez.
Jauregui then provided Palma and Mendoza Lopez with the location information to pick up the migrants, according to court documents. Jauregui also supported “supported them with encouraging messages and instructions,” and planned to pay Palma and Mendoza Lopez after they dropped off the migrants, prosecutors said.
All three face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Mendoza Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, while Jauregui and Palma are set to be sentenced on May 23.
The case was investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigations Division.
The case also comes amid the Trump administration’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown. After taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has allocated federal resources to track down, arrest, and deport immigrants without legal status.
Trump had issued a series of executive orders, implementing a broad ban on asylum for migrants encountered at the southern border and surging troops to assist border security efforts. The president also has pressed Mexico and Canada to block more migrants from illegally crossing.
‘Full I’m a thug mode’
A search warrant by HSI retrieved cellphone WhatsApp audio and text messages between the soldiers before and during the smuggling attempt as they planned a route intended to bypass the Marfa Border Patrol checkpoint.
Authorities said Jauregui organized the smuggling and recruited Palma and Mendoza Lopez to drive to Presidio from Fort Cavazos, formerly named Fort Hood, located in Killeen between Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“….Don’t forget Wednesday (papito), I need you full activity, full criminal mode pa, full I’m a thug mode, you feel me? We got this (expletive),” Jauregui told Palma in an audio message on Nov. 24, the complaint stated.
On the evening of Nov. 27, a Border Patrol agent monitoring a known smuggling hot spot saw a black GMC SUV coming and going on the only hard surface road between Lajitas and Presidio. The road comes within 100 feet of the Rio Grande, the complaint stated. Presidio is on the border with Ojinaga, Chihuahua.
A chase began when the Border Patrol attempted to pull over the SUV as it headed west toward Presidio. During the chase, an agent was injured when the SUV hit a marked Border Patrol vehicle, authorities said.
US Army soldiers, migrants arrested in Presidio pursuit
Presidio County sheriff’s deputies and Presidio police stopped the SUV near an Autozone in Presidio as people in the vehicle ran off. Mendoza Lopez, an undocumented Mexican citizen, and two Guatemalans were arrested.
Palma fled but the next day HSI agents found him in a hotel in Odessa after he informed his military command staff that he was attempting to return to Fort Cavazos, the complaint stated.
The complaint documents do not indicate how long Jauregui has been involved in smuggling migrants. In one audio message to Palma in the complaint, Jauregui said, “… But from now on, I’m gonna start working from Odessa to (expletive) San Antonio. It’s just easier and makes more money.”
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; Reuters