EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer was sentenced for smuggling migrants through a port of entry.
Omar Moreno, 46, of Horizon City, Texas, was sentenced in a federal court in El Paso to over four years in prison and 80 hours of community service for one count of bribery of a public official and one count of bringing in certain aliens into the U.S. for financial gain, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
In December 2022, agents received information that as a CBP officer on duty, Moreno was smuggling migrants into the U.S. and received $4,000 per migrant from a smuggling organization, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Feb. 1, a video allegedly captured Moreno escorting two migrants, one being a foot guide, into the U.S. through the Ysleta Port of Entry without undergoing inspection, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Feb. 23, two undercover officers posed as migrants and used a “confidential human source” as a foot guide to enter the U.S. from Mexico. Moreno allowed the smuggling to happen through the port of entry.
At the end of Moreno’s shift, he was paid $8,000 and was then arrested.
The case was investigated by the FBI, CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General.
Read: Read More