Yuma, Arizona (azfamily) – Three men are currently facing federal accusations to impersonate border investigators and transport undocumented immigrants to stashes in their neighborhoods in Yuma.
Human smugglers were able to fly under the radar by disguising themselves as agents of the US border patrol and using the same cloned vehicles used in customs and border protection.
Neighbors said they didn’t know that the stash house was a short-term rental and was being used to hide dozens of illegal immigrants.
According to federal appeals, Uriel Perez Cardenas, Giovani Sanchez Cortez and Kevin Valdez Ramirez smuggled Mexican people through gaps in the boundary wall and transported them using white Ford pickup trucks.
The truck is equipped with cloned border patrol plates and has been modified to resemble one of the agency’s K-9 vehicles.
Agents first found the truck in December. At that point, the investigators placed the tracking device and were eventually led to a hidden spot where at least 24 individuals were hidden.
Investigators also found green clothing similar to the border patrol uniform.
Although agents from Yuma’s Border Patrol said they could not comment on the aggressive incident, San Luis police said this indicates the creativity that human smugglers have been using recently.
San Luis Police Lt. Emmanuel Botero said he fears that President Trump’s immigration crackdown will make this type of crime more frequent, as it would make it more challenging for asylum seekers and refugees to enter the United States legally.
“It’s going to happen more often because we know there are a lot of people we’re coming in. Right now, the border patrol is very active and the ice agents are very active,” he said.
Botero said it had been a while since they saw cases like this, but it had happened in the past.
“By the border, we pretended to be border patrol agents or some sort of immigration authorities. It’s all about making profits, it’s all about making fast money,” Botero said.
Two of the suspects are US citizens, and the third is Mexican citizens. All three face federal accusations for human smuggling.
As of Thursday, the home that will be used as a stash house is still listed as a short-term rental. The homeowner didn’t want to be interviewed, but he said he wasn’t aware that this was happening at the facility.
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