EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A federal grand jury in El Paso has indicted two alleged smugglers who called a migrant while he was being interviewed in Border Patrol custody.
Court records show an agent responded to the voice message, pretending he was the migrant, and was instructed by a woman to go through a broken fence in an apartment complex near Alameda Avenue in El Paso’s Lower Valley.
Two agents impersonating the migrant and his traveling companion arrived at the location, used the migrant’s cell phone to call the smugglers and were told to proceed to a nearby restaurant.
Records show a man later identified as Michael Angelo Cornejo and a woman drove by the agents in a blue pickup truck. Cornejo allegedly called the migrant’s phone and told the agents to walk to a home on the 7800 block of West Drive. He caught up to them and, at that point, one agent asked him if he was there to pick them up.
After Cornejo allegedly replied “yes,” the agents identified themselves and took him into custody after a brief physical struggle.
Members of the Border Patrol Anti-Smuggling Unit shortly arrested Ana Maria Garcia a short time later as she walked along a nearby street after abandoning the truck.
Court records show Garcia and Cornejo agreed to speak to investigators. They identified themselves as a married couple getting paid $100 to $300 by a “known smuggler” to transport migrants to various locations once they came across the U.S. border. Garcia allegedly told investigators she is the one who initially contacted the migrants.
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted the couple on separate charges of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, and transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain in connection with the Nov. 27 incident. Their arraignment is scheduled for February 1 in U.S. Senior District Judge Frank Montalvo’s court in El Paso.
Read: Read More