Immigration

Border Patrol Agent Arrested Over Alleged Scheme To Smuggle Migrants Over Southern Border

El Paso, TX. (August 26, 2020) Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf participates in a media engagement and visits with U.S. Border Patrol personnel in El Paso, Texas. (Flickr/U.S. Department of Homeland Security)

A Border Patrol agent attempted to foment a scheme to help illegal immigrants enter the United States by way of fake documentation and bogus asylum claims, prosecutors and federal officials claim.

Jorge Alonso, a Border Patrol agent deployed to the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, was arrested on May 22 on human smuggling charges, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz announced on Friday. Alonso allegedly tried to help an illegal immigrant enter the U.S., and establish a process for other foreign nationals to enter the country unlawfully.

“Alonso allegedly encouraged and coached an undocumented immigrant to enter into the U.S. via a Port of Entry and make a claim to legal status,” Saenz stated in a Facebook post. “Alonso also allegedly provided a fraudulent U.S. Birth Certificate. The goal of the conspiracy was to establish a basis for further illegal crossings based on the fraudulent U.S. Birth Certificate.”

The investigation was conducted by agencies including the district attorney’s office, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Office of Professional Responsibility, the district attorney said. The alleged smuggling offense is a special third-degree felony and carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

CBP confirmed the arrest to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“A CBP employee assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector was arrested on an outstanding warrant with charges of smuggling and conspiracy to commit smuggling. The incident is under investigation by the Cameron County Attorney’s Office with the assistance of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility and DHS Office of Inspector General,” the agency stated.

Other Border Patrol agents have been accused of attempting to use their position to smuggle foreign nationals and contraband illegally into the U.S.

Fernando Castillo was caught in June 2023 soliciting a $5,000 bribe from a citizen of El Salvador and Mexico in exchange for paperwork that would allow her to remain in the country. The former Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the Department of Justice announced in May.

Former Border Patrol agent Hector Hernandez was sentenced to 87 months in prison in May after admitting he accepted bribes to smuggle migrants and meth across the U.S.-Mexico border while on duty, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Featured Image Credit: Flickr/U.S. Department of Homeland Security