Two arrests made in connection with baby smuggling case

A man and a woman are behind bars Friday evening.

Customs and Border Protection officials are telling ABC-7 the two suspects are connected to a child smuggling case we reported on earlier this month.

Agents say what led to the arrest was the mother of the abandoned baby identifying the “so called smugglers”.

Joshua Mayorga Valerie Galindo, both 23, are both charged with alien smuggling.

Officials say the two smuggled a 10-month-old into the United States May 15.

Later that day the baby was found abandoned on El Paso’s West side.

“Most alien smuggling cases we see at the port of entry involve adults utilizing a document that they’ve obtained fraudulently,” said U.S Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier.

Maier says baby smuggling is an exceptionally dangerous practice.

“It has happened before but it’s not too common,” said Maier.

The baby’s mother 26-year-old Mayra Selene Lazos was caught crossing the Bridge of the Americas.

CBP officers believed she was using a false identity. A fingerprint scan revealed she was wanted in Colorado.

After Lazos was arrested she told officers her baby had been smuggled shortly before her arrival.

Later that night Lazo’s baby was found in a car seat alone in a West side neighborhood.

CBP determined the pair entered as pedestrians and used a birth certificate to claim U.S. citizenship for the infant.

The mother provided information about the pair that led to their arrest

On May 22 Mayorga was caught driving into the U.S. through the Paso Del Norte bridge.

Two days later Galindo drove into the U.S. with a man and her infant child through the Zaragosa bridge.

Maier has a stern warning for those who are thinking about trying to illegally cross their children into the United States.

“Many times you don’t know about the people you are hiring with your own flesh and blood to bring that person across the border. This instance could have had tragic consequences,” said Maier.

Mayorga has a criminal history dating back to 2009 for DWI, possesion of marijuana-assault and violating a protective order.

Galindo and Mayorga both are U.S. citizens and are residents of El Paso.