EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A Florida trucker allegedly crammed 15 unauthorized migrants in the cab of his semi to sneak them past a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in New Mexico.
Border agents on Tuesday night arrested Raimundo Gomez as he became nervous during questioning at the Interstate 10 checkpoint west of Las Cruces, N.M.
Court records show the driver of a red Freightliner tractor pulling a flatbed trailer presented proof of lawful immigration status and his Florida commercial driver’s license. But he was at a loss for words when an agent asked if he was transporting passengers.
Gomez was told to turn off the engine, and a supervisory Border Patrol agent came on the scene and shined a flashlight on the cab. The supervisor reported seeing people trying to hide in the sleeping area of the cab.
The agents arrested Gomez and pulled 15 people on the top and bottom bunks of the sleeping compartment.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, Gomez told Homeland Security Investigations agents smugglers hired him to transport migrants after they entered the country illegally through El Paso, Texas, to an undisclosed location in Deming, N.M.
Gomez allegedly said he transported five groups of unauthorized migrants past highway checkpoints without incident before being caught this week. The suspect told investigators he makes $800 per migrant and gets paid upon delivery, or the complaint alleges whenever he returns to El Paso.
Gomez is scheduled to appear in a Las Cruces federal courtroom at a detention hearing next Wednesday before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Gregory B. Wormuth. No mention was made of the individuals or criminal organization the trucker allegedly works for.
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