EL PASO, Texas (Border Patrol) – Three government agencies working across two states combined to apprehend an alleged smuggler driving erratically at high speeds in El Paso’s Upper Valley.
Around noon on Jan. 30, Department of Defense troops assigned to border duties spotted a group of migrants come over from Mexico and run north of the border wall east of Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
The soldiers used their service radios to alert the Border Patrol of the incursion. Border agents riding all-terrain vehicles approached the area and began following several footprints in the desert terrain.
According to court documents, the agents spotted the migrants 2 miles eastward as they were getting into two vehicles parked on a street called Gila Drive in nearby Sunland Park, New Mexico.
The agents reported that a black minivan and a black Ford Crown Victoria immediately sped off in opposite directions – a common decoy tactic among smugglers.
Court documents show border agents requested the assistance of a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter crew when one of the vehicles crossed the Texas state line into El Paso.
The DPS helicopter tracked the movements of the black Crown Victoria and relayed its position to Border Patrol units in West El Paso.
When border agents got behind the vehicle and turned on flashing lights, the Crown Victoria sped up going north on Doniphan Drive and began to rapidly change lanes. Court documents show the vehicle sped north of the El Paso suburb of Canutillo and turned into Chicken Farm Road.
It was there that the driver and possibly migrants got out and ran off. Border agents caught up to Carlos Manuel Soto near a mobile home park and placed him under arrest on charges of conspiracy and transportation of illegal aliens.
An arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico alleges Soto admitted he knew he was picking up unauthorized migrants and that he was going to get paid for it. He allegedly said he “got scared” and dropped off his “cargo” as he tried to elude authorities.
Soto is scheduled to appear at a Thursday hearing in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The incident initially caused confusion among Canutillo residents, as officers from various law enforcement agencies parked in a small shopping center during the foot pursuit of Soto. That sparked concerns about a possible immigration raid on businesses.
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