Woman accused of smuggling migrants said she was at border to ‘fool around,’ agents say
A Texas woman said she and a man drove to a scenic spot near the Mexico border to watch the sunset and “fool around” when a group of migrants hopped in their car and forced them to drive, according to court records.
But the man she was with told authorities they were actually there to smuggle migrants through the country for the fourth time, court records show.
The couple was charged with transporting illegal aliens within the United States for financial gain. The woman faces an additional charge of assaulting a border patrol agent, according to court records.
McClatchy News reached out to their attorneys July 18 but did not immediately hear back.
On July 7, agents from the Presidio Station of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol were alerted to “possible illicit activity” on a road known to be “one of the most notorious smuggling routes in the Big Bend area,” according to a criminal complaint.
Agents noticed a red Kia sedan traveling east then west a short time later on FM170, which runs parallel to the Rio Grande River, court records show.
Authorities then flagged down the car to pull over for an immigration inspection when five passengers fled the vehicle, according to the complaint.
The driver, a man, and the front seat passenger, a woman, both United States citizens, were taken into custody, authorities said.
Suspect tries to cover up smuggling scheme
The woman told Homeland Security Investigations agents that she wanted to watch the sunset in Big Bend, and that she and the man she was with were planning to “drive in a little ways and fool around,” according to court records.
When asked why they would want to engage in sexual activities near the highway, the woman said “sometimes people like a little danger,” according to the complaint.
She told agents the five people appeared out of nowhere, got into the car, and instructed them to drive, records show.
However, investigators found a contact saved as “Boss” in the woman’s phone, who she said was a cousin of hers in Mexico, records show.
The woman then grabbed at the agent to try to get her phone away from him, throwing a water bottle at him in the process.
In a separate interview, the man told investigators he and the woman were in the Big Bend area to smuggle “undocumented non-citizens” through border checkpoints and had done so on three prior occasions, according to the complaint.
The man said the woman was coordinating the scheme with an unidentified contact in Mexico, and that she was being paid approximately $2,000 per person, according to court records.
The man said he was not being paid but was “helping” by driving the car, court records show.
This story was originally published July 18, 2024 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Woman accused of smuggling migrants said she was at border to ‘fool around,’ agents say."
