Two American citizens were arrested by El Centro Sector Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents earlier this week, according to that agency.
A female driver and passenger, both unnamed, were transporting two girls, ages 10 and 12, when they approached the Highway 86 immigration checkpoint near Westmorland, California.
CBP said the driver initially claimed she was driving from Arizona to California but later admitted that she had crossed the U.S. southern border with Mexico at the San Luis Port of Entry in Arizona earlier in the day. The vehicle was then referred for secondary inspection.
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During that inspection process, agents noticed that the children’s names and photos did not match those on their identification cards and discovered that they were not related to the driver or passenger. After questioning, they discovered that the children were unaccompanied minors from Mexico.
“And this, folks, is how the trafficking of children starts,” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino of the El Centro Sector. “It’s almost unbearable to think about what heinous crimes await children who aren’t with their parents. The border environment has been rife with this type of activity over the past several years. However, the focus has now shifted, and heavy sentences await smugglers who hurt kids.”
Both adults were charged under 8 U.S.C. § 1324, which prohibits smuggling and transporting immigrants into the United States.
Fox News Digital reached out to CBP’s El Centro Sector.
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Just last month, two Mexican nationals were found guilty in what was described as the “deadliest human smuggling event in U.S. history.”
Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega face life in prison after abandoning a tractor trailer filled with illegal immigrants in the baking San Antonio sun in 2022.
Sixty-seven illegal immigrants, including children, were locked inside. The incident resulted in the death of 53 people.
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Earlier in the month of March, Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul and Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, both Guatemalan nationals, were arrested by federal agents and accused of operating one of the largest human smuggling rings in the country.
The pair allegedly smuggled 20,000 illegal immigrants into the United States from 2019 until their arrests.
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