EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Four alleged smugglers are in custody and 13 migrants are in removal proceedings after agents with the U.S. Border Patrol Anti-Smuggling Unit descended on hotels in East and West El Paso last week.
In a separate incident, border agents seized fraudulent resident alien documents (green cards) from a mobile home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, they suspect was being used as a migrant stash house.
Last Tuesday, ASU agents conducted surveillance at a motel on North Yarbrough Drive in El Paso where they suspected a smuggling organization was “stashing” migrants. They observed three men, including one with muddy boots exit room 229.
According to court documents, the men appeared nervous, looking from side to side as they walked down. Border agents approached the men when they were about to get into a blue Kia Sorento with temporary license plates.
Court records show the man getting into the Kia’s driver seat told agents his name was Yair Alejandro Aguilar Flores, a citizen of Mexico, and that he held a B1/B2 visitor visa which expired, and he forgot to carry.
Documents show agents found Aguilar to be in the U.S. illegally, to have an arrest record and two arrest warrants out of Arkansas.
Border Patrol agents went up to room 229, knocked, were granted entry by the person who opened the door, and found eight individuals huddled inside. The agents said they noticed a “strong smell of wet clothing” coming from inside, consistent with people who just crossed the Rio Grande.
As they investigated the migrants inside the premises, a white Hyundai Santa Fe pulled up to the parking lot and its driver walked up to room 229. Court documents show Jesus David Reyes Villagran knocked on the door to be let in and, when confronted by agents, told them the room was his.
Later, Reyes allegedly told investigators he has transported migrants from isolated spots east of El Paso to motels four times and on three occasions driven migrants to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for profit. Records show Reyes, a Mexican citizen, has been removed from the United States on five occasions.
Further questioning revealed Reyes had just dropped off another five migrants at a hotel on the west side of El Paso. The information led to Border Patrol apprehending an additional five migrants last Tuesday.
Angel Eduardo Carrillo Carrillo, the man with the muddy boots, allegedly said he gets paid $300 for “guiding” migrants from Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso. Jorge Alfredo Lopez Acevedo also said he gets paid to take people across the Rio Grande into Mexico. Both are residents of Juarez.
Preliminary detention hearings are scheduled for Wednesday morning in a federal courtroom in El Paso.
On Thursday, Border Patrol agents conducting surveillance on a mobile home park in Las Cruces noticed seven vehicles parked outside one of the trailers, including one involved in a September 2023 failed smuggling attempt.
Court records show the agents saw a man and a woman come outside and walked over to talk to them. Records show the man fled into the mobile home and the woman tried to run but was apprehended by agents. She was identified as Marlin Villeda Ramirez and found to be in the country illegally.
The agents went to the back of the mobile home and saw a second woman who “called out a dog in the backyard” and slammed the door shut. The agents backed out when the people inside refused to come out and petitioned a U.S. magistrate judge for a search warrant.
Court records show they returned a day later and found two fraudulent resident cards bearing the name of an adult male and a juvenile female they believe are Honduran nationals.
They left a copy of the warrant on a table.
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