EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested a cartel “foot guide” they say has been instrumental in dozens of illegal entries in the El Paso Sector.
U.S. Border Patrol sources told NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley that the foot guide is a member of the La Linea Cartel who has facilitated over 40 illegal entries over the last two years. He was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents from the El Paso Sector.
Although he was not identified by name, agents provided his arrest photo and photos of his tattoos. They say he has an extensive criminal history involving illegal immigration.
The suspected cartel foot guide faces charges of illegal entry and human smuggling.
“Hopefully, the courts impose maximum sentences, the only consequence these criminals understand,” Border Patrol sources told NewsNation.
The La Linea drug cartel started as a group of ex-police officers acting as hitmen for the Juarez cartel. In recent years, they have been at war with cells of the Sinaloa cartel in various parts of Chihuahua as they try to secure drug smuggling routes to the U.S., security experts have told Border Report.
Cartels have more recently been fighting over the lucrative migrant trade.
In the Mexican state of Chiapas earlier this month, severed human heads were found in a cooler at a gas station, and a dismembered body was found hanging from an overpass. According to news reports, signs were left in each location by two drug cartels threatening each other, and one warned its rivals to stay away from smuggling migrants.
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