EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two men are in federal custody after at least one of them drove an SUV carrying unauthorized migrants without stopping at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 25 near Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The two allegedly were part of an organized effort to overwhelm border agents with multiple vehicles simultaneously failing to stop for inspection, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in federal district court in Las Cruces.
The scheme unraveled when a Border Patrol agent threw a “stop stick” at a black GMC Yukon Denali with New Mexico license plates that did not stop at the checkpoint’s primary inspection booth. Records show the spiky device unfolded on the pavement and punctured the SUV’s tires, but the driver kept going away from the border.
The complaint doesn’t say how many vehicles preceded the black Denali, but border agents initiated a pursuit and located the SUV on mile marker 32, on the way to Albuquerque. The agents allegedly witnessed the driver of a black Chevrolet Silverado attempting to tow the disabled vehicle and retreat to the cab of the pickup when the agents arrived. The driver of the Denali and some of his passengers ran off to the desert but were later apprehended, the complaint states.
The Silverado’s driver – later identified as Benjamin Calderon, a U.S. citizen – refused to exit the pickup but eventually surrendered. Records show five unauthorized foreign nationals also were in the vehicle.
The two alleged smugglers and nine unauthorized non-citizens were taken to a Border Patrol station. Homeland Security Investigations agents questioned Calderon and allegedly linked him to a migrant stash house in Canutillo, Texas.
Those allegations stem from the Jan. 25 arrest of an alleged smuggler who told border agents she picked up eight unauthorized migrants from the house in Canutillo. Records show agents have raided that home twice and that HSI agents additionally linked Calderon to two suspected hideouts for unauthorized non-citizens in Anthony, New Mexico.
In a recorded interview, Calderon initially said someone approached him at a gas station and “intimidated” him into transporting the migrants. Later, he allegedly told agents he knew his passengers were unlawfully present in the United States and that he would get $500 for each one he dropped off in Albuquerque, the complaint states.
Calderon allegedly told the agents he has been driving migrants to the interior of the United States three times a week for the past six months. Calderon said the vehicles were his and that he is the one renting the property in Canutillo, court records show. He denied knowledge of the stash houses in New Mexico but said he lives in Anthony with his parents.
Federal officials identified the driver of the Denali as Carlos Eduardo Martinez. The suspect initially told agents he was just a migrant being smuggled. He allegedly changed his story when agents asked him why he was carrying two cellphones and several hundred dollars.
The Juarez, Mexico, resident told investigators he only recently began driving migrants to Albuquerque and that he picked up his four passengers at a home in Anthony, records show. He allegedly told agents he was working for cash and for a reduction of his own debt after being smuggled into the United States.
Martinez and Calderon are facing charges of conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens. Both men have preliminary detention hearings scheduled Thursday in U.S. Federal District Court for the District of New Mexico in Las Cruces.
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