A wife and husband’s trip to a garage sale Tuesday ended with Border Patrol arresting the couple for harboring 34 people in the country illegally inside a Mission residence.
Agustina Guerrero-Villanueva, a Mexican citizen born in 1987, and Ernesto Cruz-Roman, a Mexican citizen born in 1980, were charged with bringing in and harboring people in the country illegally, court records show.
The investigation into the couple began Sept. 16 after Border Patrol received information from a person in custody that the Mission residence was being used as a stash house, according to a criminal complaint.
On Tuesday, while Border Patrol was conducting surveillance, agents watched as a man and a woman — later identified as Guerrero and Cruz — got into a tan Chevrolet Tahoe and drove to a garage sale, which is where Border Patrol and Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office deputies approached the couple for a “consensual encounter.”
Agents questioned Guerrero about whether she was involved in human smuggling and she admitted that she would cook for people in the house but always left shortly after, according to Border Patrol.
She told agents there were at least 10 people inside the house, the criminal complaint said.
Agents also spoke with Cruz, who Border Patrol said admitted there were at least 30 people inside the residence and gave authorities consent to search the residence.
Deputies and agents approached the home and chased after three people who ran out of the house into nearby brush. Authorities apprehended them.
After their short flight, they left the front door open and agents and deputies entered the residence and found another 31 people inside.
During a custodial interview with Cruz, he told investigators that in May 2018 he paid $2,500 to be smuggled into the country and that in July, smugglers hired him as a caretaker of the stash house and he received $150 per person, according to the complaint.
“He said the smugglers would cover the rent,” the complaint stated.
Border Patrol said Cruz claimed he had cared for about 70 people and had received between $6,000 to $7,000.
Both Guerrero and Cruz made a first appearance Thursday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis, who ordered them temporarily held without bond pending probable cause and detention hearings scheduled for early next week, court records show.
