The profession of “coyote” is a well paying one but the downside is prison when you get caught at it, or worse. Federal lawmen in El Paso “are holding three alleged leaders of a smuggling organization responsible for transporting at least 2,500 unauthorized migrants to the interior of the country.”
Coyote smuggling probe
One coyote wasn’t identified but two others were. U.S. Border Patrol agents teamed up with members of the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division to break up a widespread human smuggling operation along the border.
Last week, they made a big raid. They’re hoping to pull in even bigger fish from the net.
The well prepared team swooped in to execute a warrant in late November at “a home on the 14400 block of Desert Sage Drive in Horizon City.” As part of the process, they slapped cuffs on “two Mexican nationals and an individual only identified as the target of the warrant.”
Federal authorities in El Paso are holding three alleged leaders of a smuggling organization responsible for transporting thousands of unauthorized migrants to the interior of the country.https://t.co/qBYHi9aGgu
— Border Report (@BorderReportcom) November 29, 2023
Without naming names, federal authorities claim the suspect is a known coyote. The two Mexicans are Oscar Alexis Rojas Ramirez and Christian Hernandez Herrera.
Ramirez and Herrera were in charge of setting up the housing and transportation. They were so good at it they helped usher “thousands of migrants” across the border and into the heartland of America.
Every coyote on the border works for one transnational criminal cartel or another.
Consensual search
Rojas and Hernandez cooperated completely with federal authorities and each coyote voluntarily consented to a search of their cellphones. That quickly turned up “records of conversations with the alleged smuggler.”
The criminal complaint filed in El Paso’s U.S. District Court on November 23 spells out the details made public.
When the feds started grilling the unnamed coyote heading the operation, he admitted “he has provided housing and transportation for more than 2,500 unauthorized migrants in the El Paso area.”
Criminal organizations are exploiting new ways to smuggle migrants into El Paso. Read KFOX14's Special Report⤵ https://t.co/e3SLn6xR5z
— KFOX14 News (@KFOX14) November 29, 2023
At $10,000 a head that “netted him at least $250,000 in profits.”
The judge didn’t show the drivers any mercy when they hauled the Mexicans into court. U.S. Magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower “has ordered Rojas and Hernandez detained without bond and set a detention hearing for Wednesday at 10 a.m.”
As far as the top dog coyote, “there was no immediate word on the status of the unidentified alleged migrant smuggling leader.” He’s probably in witness protection and getting ready to rat on one of El Chapo’s relatives to get out of this jam. If anyone finds out who did it, he’ll wish he was safely in prison.
