EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — A federal grand jury has indicted 14 individuals from Texas, New Mexico and Mexico for their alleged role in a “prolific alien smuggling organization,” prosecutors announced Monday.
According to a news release from the Justice Department, a grand jury in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Wednesday returned an indictment against the 14 defendants for conspiracy to transport, harbor, and bring aliens into the United States from South and Central America. Eight of those individuals were subsequently arrested on Thursday and Friday.
The release says they transported migrants within the United States and held them in “stash houses” along the way. Additionally, some of the smuggling suspects led authorities on high-speed chases or instructed migrants on how to flee U.S. Border Patrol agents and evade checkpoints.
The indictment also alleges that the defendants abandoned a person in the desert and they ended up dying of heat exposure.
Antoinette T. Bacon, a supervisory official with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said the smuggling organization is based in Mexico and allegedly smuggled hundreds of migrants, including unaccompanied children, through New Mexico and South Texas.
“We are committed to eliminating transnational alien smuggling organizations that exploit migrants purely for profit and undermine our national security,” she said.
All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to bring to, transport, and harbor illegal aliens in the United States. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A judge will sentence them at a later date. The following individuals are charged in the indictment:
- Michelle Martinez, 29, of El Paso, Texas
- Jesus Calvillo, 44, of El Paso
- Jorge Calvillo, 25, of El Paso
- Abel Aguilar-Cano, 53, of Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Jose Palomino, 27, of El Paso
- Edna Valdez-China, 48, of El Paso
- Leslie Nicole Calvillo, aka Leslie Jaramillo, 24, of El Paso
- Melissa Vargas, 22, of El Paso
- Jorge Alberto De La Cruz-Dominguez, aka “Guero,” 54, of Juarez, Mexico
- Jorge Valdez China, aka “Lolo,” 23, of El Paso
- Jonathan Valdez-China, aka China and Dior, 24, of Juarez
- Alma Guadalupe Valdez-China, 41, of Juarez
Martinez, Jesus Calvillo, Jorge Calvillo, Aguilar-Cano and Palomino made their initial court appearances Monday in the District of New Mexico and remain in U.S. custody. Edna Valdez-China, Leslie Calvillo, and Vargas are in U.S. custody and will appear Tuesday in the District of New Mexico.
Jason T. Stevens, the special agent in charge of Immigration Customs and Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said human smuggling is a crime that takes lives and puts the public at risk.
“We are appreciative of our brave law enforcement partners for their continued vigilance in investigating and apprehending members of transnational criminal organizations who conspire to undermine our nation’s immigration laws for their profit, with a callous and reckless disregard for the sanctity of life,” he said.
Acting U.S. Attorney Holland S. Kastrin for the District of New Mexico vowed to continue working with federal, state and local partners to “dismantle transnational human smuggling organizations, hold their leaders accountable, and seize the illicit proceeds generated by these exploitative enterprises.”
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