Seven adults from the United States were arrested over the weekend for attempting to smuggle eight children through ports of entry in five separate events, according to multiple criminal complaints.
Daisy Leanne Lara, born in 1999, Jorge Salazar, Carolina Hernandez, both born in 1996, and Denise Ann Palomino, as well as Eamber Michelle Glenn, Diana Maria Ortiza and Georgina Chapa-Alonso, were arrested for knowingly and willingly attempting to cross non-citizen children into the U.S.
According to one complaint, Lara and Salazar attempted to smuggle a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old through the Hidalgo Port of Entry on Oct. 9 claiming that the kids were Lara’s siblings as she presented Border Patrol officers two State of Georgia birth certificates as proof.
Upon further inspection, it was revealed the children and Lara were unrelated after she failed to answer basic questions, the complaint said.
Lara later admitted she knew the kids were Mexican citizens and said that her grandmother, Olga Villarreal, made all the arrangements.
She said Villarreal and the children’s aunt made entry as pedestrians while Lara and Salazar proceeded through vehicular primary and added that she would be paid $14,000 if she was successful, which was to be split between her and Villarreal.
Salazar was to be paid $1,000 of the $7,000 Lara was to receive, the complaint said.
That same day, at the Progreso Port of Entry, Hernandez attempted to illegally bring in a 7-year-old by presenting a city of McAllen birth certificate and claimed the child to be her daughter.
Hernandez claimed she was picking up her alleged daughter from her grandmother’s residence in Mexico. When BP agents asked the girl her name, she stated her true name which wasn’t on the birth certificate provided by Hernandez.
In a later interview with authorities, the child said she was a citizen of Mexico and didn’t know who Hernandez was.
Hernandez later admitted she knew what she was doing was wrong and illegal and said she was going to be paid for crossing the child over.
