EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A stepped up military presence along the border hasn’t stopped smugglers from trying to get migrants into the United States.
Court records show federal grand juries this week charged at least seven individuals in connection with four separate smuggling attempts on the outskirts of El Paso.
The events took place between May 13 to May 18 – two weeks after the Trump administration established the Fort Bliss National Defense Area and almost a month after the New Mexico National Defense Area came into being and soldiers with armored vehicles were assigned to protect them.
On May 18, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, were notified by a camera operator that several individuals had come over the border wall. The operators further stated that a white Chevrolet Tahoe and a red Dodge Ram were racing to pick up the unauthorized crossers near the desert.
Border agents began tracking the vehicles and intercepted the Tahoe in Canutillo, Texas. The driver obeyed instructions to stop and identified himself as Jesus Ortiz, a U.S. citizen. He and his two Mexican passengers were immediately taken into custody.
The Dodge Ram headed east into El Paso and was directed to stop by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper for having expired license plates. Records show the driver refused to stop and try to flee at high speed. The Ram hit a curb and a parked car and came to an involuntary stop near the intersection of Gateway Boulevard East and San Marcial Street.
The U.S. driver, Hector Quezada, and four migrants were arrested. Ortiz and Quesada allegedly admitted being promised by a smuggling organization $900 and $300 for every migrant they delivered to a location not disclosed in public records.
Both men were indicted Wednesday on charges of transportation of illegal aliens.
Three days earlier, on the opposite end of the region, border agents in Clint, Texas, responded to an underground sensor activation 3 miles west of the Tornillo port of entry.
Five migrants who came over the border wall tried to conceal themselves in a pecan orchard. A Ford Explorer drove up so the migrants could get in and proceeded west to Fabens, Texas.
Border agents stopped the Explorer along Alameda Avenue, apprehended the five migrants and took custody of U.S. citizen Ernesto Covarrubias and Tanya Joselyn de la Paz Nuñez, a Mexican national with a valid B1/B2 border crossing visa.
Records show Covarrubias said he received cellphone app messages from undisclosed parties on where to pick up the migrants and was instructed to drive them to a stash house.
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Covarrubias and De la Paz on charges of conspiracy and transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.
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