EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An El Paso woman is facing federal charges in New Mexico for allegedly working as a scout for a migrant smuggling organization.
Federal agents arrested Veronica Avalos last week at a gas station in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The woman drove through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 70 and allegedly used her cellphone to direct the driver of a vehicle carrying six migrants that it was safe to come through.
But when the second vehicle arrived at the checkpoint, border agents noticed several passengers trying to hide in “uncomfortable, tight positions” and without freedom of movement, according to court records obtained by Border Report. The agents found additional migrants under a tarp in the cargo area.
Investigators interviewed co-defendant Santiago Perez Carrillo, an undocumented migrant driving the vehicle, and that led them to the gas station where Avalos allegedly was waiting for the group.
Avalos and Perez allegedly told investigators they were helping an unnamed coordinator smuggle migrants to Albuquerque and Atlanta.
They were charged Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit, a felony offense.
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