El Pasoan sentenced for building tunnel to smuggle migrants
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- An El Paso man was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to use a border tunnel to smuggle undocumented migrants into the country.
Oscar Ivan Carrillo, 20, appeared in federal court Wednesday to receive his sentence. Federal prosecutors say that on January 10, 2025, Border Patrol and ICE found a man-made tunnel connecting Juarez and El Paso.
Court documents state that Carrillo and his con-conspirators used handheld tools to create new tunnels and connect them to existing storm drains.
"At the tunnel exit, a box truck modified with a trap door was driven over a manhole cover; the trap door was then opened, allowing the aliens to climb up out of the tunnel and into the box truck without being detected," federal prosecutors explained.
Carrillo was indicted on April 2, 2025, and arrested on June 10, 2025. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a border tunnel on November 4, 2025.
“Mexican drug cartels and the alien smuggling organizations (ASOs) with which they partner care nothing about the hopes and dreams of those they illegally smuggle into the United States,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons. “They care only about the money each of the illegal aliens pay to be smuggled. Even after putting their lives at risk by entering the country using the method employed in this case, as well as more dangerous methods, the cartels and their ASOs often extort these illegal aliens by holding them in U.S. stash houses until their family members can pay additional money for their release. In the Western District of Texas, in support of our law enforcement partners with U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations, we will always aggressively pursue alien smugglers because doing so hits cartels right where it hurts: in the pocketbook. And weakening Mexican drug cartels makes this country a place where Americans cannot just survive, but thrive.”
