Law enforcement answers questions on human smuggling recruitment tactics following arrest of Michigan man

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A Michigan man now faces human smuggling charges after he was arrest in El Paso Sunday.

Javier Pena is charged with smuggling of persons: fleeing and evading arrest detention w/ vehicle or watercraft. Pena is being held on bonds totaling $45,000.

ABC-7 spoke with Robert Almonte, a former U.S. Marshall and El Paso Police Officer, about how smugglers are recruited from different parts of the country.

Almonte spoke about the ways cartels try and recruit Americans to smuggle people across the border.

"The Mexican cartel will use Facebook, they'll use Tik Tok and what they do is advertise a job opportunity. And that job opportunity can be described as they are looking for someone to go to the border or drive a truck or car to San Antonio to wherever the destination is, and they'll pay them a lot of money, $20,000," Almonte explained.

ABC-7 has reached out to El Paso's local FBI office on how federal law enforcement tries to stop criminal activity and recruitment online.