Border Patrol, ICE Agents Stop UHAUL Van Smuggling Immigrants
LAS CRUCES — Immigration and Customs Enforcements agents arrested two men Saturday after they tried to smuggle a groupof illegal immigrants into the U.S. inside a UHAUL van.
Border Patrol agents received a tip from a caller who said a large group of people being shuffled into a white commercial van on Arizona state Highway 80, near the Arizona-New Mexico state line.
The agents conducted an immigration check on the van at New Mexico Highway 80 where they discovered the driver and two passengers in the cab, along with 27 other people in the cargo trailer.
Border Patrol agents detained the driver and contacted ICE. Agents learned from the driver, identified as Rosendo Gamez-Avila of Los Mochis, Mexico, that he was to be paid $100 for each immigrant smuggled into the country.
ICE investigators found that Border Patrol agents in Douglas, AZ had detained Miguel Trejo-Meraz earlier Saturday evening. Meraz was identified as the driver who delivered the commercial van to Avila in Arizona.
Gamez-Avila was charged with alien/smuggling transporting; Trejo-Meraz was charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. Both are being held in the Dona Ana County Detention Center pending trial.
All 30 aliens discovered in the UHAUL were identified as Mexican nationals and had each paid between $800 and $1,800 to be smuggled into the U.S. Special agent-in-charge Roberto Medina of ICE Office of Investigations reiterated the severity and deplorable nature of the charges of human smuggling.
“Alien smuggling organizations are driven by greed,” he said. “ICE will not allow the border to be used as an opportunity for criminal smugglers to profit from their crimes. We will continue to work together with the Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring these human smugglers to justice.”
