Border Patrol agents arrested 26 people illegally present in the United States last Thursday in the ranchlands after sensor activity tipped authorities off to the smuggling event.
According to the criminal complaint, Kingsville Border Patrol agents were working a sensor activation from the previous day at about 2:36 p.m., which revealed an SUV driving through ranches with several people hanging off the back.
Agents located a brown Chevrolet Suburban last Wednesday but didn’t find any people at the time, though they managed to apprehend seven people after tracking a group.
At around 8 p.m. that same day, agents responded to a sensor activation in a ranch where they discovered a group of 21 people near a creek.
“Once the group got close to County Road 771, three subjects separated from the group and began to walk south away from the group,” the complaint said.
Agents suspected these three people to be the guides for the group and began to follow behind them, which resulted in the apprehension of Ezequiel Ortigoza-Ramirez and Manuel Hernandez-Velazquez, who were later determined to be Mexican nationals.
They are charged with attempting to transport people illegally present in the country.
Later that night, at about 11:45 p.m., 17 other people were arrested in the same area and were transported to the Kingsville Border Patrol Station where the first people who were arrested began to call out to the newly arrested group of people.
“When the subjects arrived at the station, two of the subjects from the prior seven that were apprehended earlier that afternoon began to salute them, giving the impression that the individuals from the separate groups had previously known each other,” the complaint said.
In an interview with authorities, Ortigoza stated he was offered $1,500 to help smuggle 24 people further into the U.S. and was tasked with cutting the fences inside the ranches to continue to gain access into other ranches.
He added that he was the brush guide helping the two main guides that got away and stated that he’s done this trip multiple times.
Hernandez told authorities that he had been living in McAllen for about three months and began working at a stash house as a caretaker for a man named “Victor,” who would pay him $20 per smuggled person.
He then said that his friend known as “Chango” offered him a job as a brush guide and would be paid around $2,500, but due to Hernandez having problems walking, he was then assigned to be the driver of the Suburban.
Hernandez added that the two other guides that got away were “Chango” and another man known as “Valero.”
Both he and Ortigoza are set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie K. Hampton Thursday morning for a detention hearing in Corpus Christi federal court.
