A man driving an immigrant he found by the Starr County border wall said he was picking up a prospective employee for his grass-cutting business, according to a federal complaint.
Eric Alvarado, who was driving a silver Mustang near Fronton, TX on Christmas Eve around noon was arrested and charged with helping transport a person illegally present in the country.
Border Patrol agents noticed the incident unfold after they studied an image sent to their Tactical Operations Center in Rio Grande City showing a Guatemalan man south of the wall.
An agent positioned himself near the area and noticed the man, later identified as Lucio Gilberto Menendez Lopez, jump the fence as a vehicle approached. A camera operator monitoring the area saw the man get into the silver Mustang driven by Alvarado.
Both men were arrested and taken in for processing at the Rio Grande City Border Patrol station.
Alvarado told agents he was picking up Menendez Lopez, a man he did not know, to help with Alvarado’s grass-cutting business. He said an acquaintance shared the pick-up location.
Alvarado later told agents he was expecting to be paid $100 for picking up the Guatemalan man and that he was arrested in the past for human smuggling.
Menendez Lopez told agents he paid $7,500 to be smuggled to New York City. He crossed the river with another man who did not cross the border wall, and then boarded the vehicle that was described to him before he crossed into the U.S
Alvarado appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in McAllen on Tuesday and requested a public defender. He will remain in federal custody until a detention hearing scheduled for Friday.
