A Texas woman who was arrested Monday for attempting to smuggle an infant into the U.S. told Border Patrol agents she did it to save her own children, federal authorities said in a criminal complaint.
Angela Martinez, a mother of two children, is charged with smuggling people into the country illegally.
According to the complaint, a Border Patrol agent working at the Kingsville Border Patrol Station stepped onto a northbound carrier bus at about 11 p.m. in order to conduct an immigration inspection of the occupants. That’s where the agent encountered Martinez holding an infant.
When asked if she was a United States citizen, Martinez handed the agent a Texas identification card and the baby’s birth certificate, which prompted the agent to ask if the baby was hers to which she said yes.
“While speaking with her he observed the child vomit and did not seem to respond to the name she was calling him,” the complaint said.
This agent asked her to step out of the bus for further investigation, according to the complaint.
Outside of the bus, Martinez admitted to agents that she didn’t know who the child was or any of his biological information and was promptly arrested for attempting to smuggle the infant.
During an interview, Martinez stated that she had two children living in Matamoros, Mexico with her boyfriend, who borrowed $2,000 from “bad people” in order to buy a Cadillac Escalade four months ago and wasn’t able to pay them back.
She added that the men threatened to take her children unless she smuggled the infant into the U.S.
Martinez admitted this was her sixth time smuggling an illegally present person and said she had been paid $2,400 for her previous attempts.
She said she was given $100 for food and supplies for the infant and was promised $300 upon her arrival and admitted to using her own child’s birth certificate to smuggle the infant.
Martinez had been arrested for smuggling before in August 2020.
She is set to appear before Magistrate Judge Julie K Hampton for a preliminary examination hearing on Nov. 1.
