ICE BEST Team News Release on El Paso
El Paso “BEST” team arrests 19 illegal aliens, 5 smugglers
ICE, Border Patrol and sheriff’s deputies have arrested about 370 aliens, 80 smugglers since Oct.
EL PASO, Texas – The Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arrested 19 illegal aliens, five smugglers and seized two tractor-trailers this week.
El Paso’s BEST members include ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas.
On Wednesday, about 11:30 a.m., BEST members conducting surveillance along Interstate highway 10 near Vado, Texas, stopped two tractor-trailers after observing the drivers escort two men into one of the 18-wheelers, and another man into the second tractor-trailer at a nearby truck stop.
Agents followed the 18-wheelers westbound on I-10, and performed an investigative stop. When the agents questioned the drivers, both said they were traveling alone. They both consented to the agents searching their vehicles, and agents found the aliens hiding in the sleeper portion of the cab. BEST team members questioned the truck drivers and their passengers, and determined the passengers were illegal aliens.
BEST members arrested the truck drivers, Julio Cesar Cazabal-Gutierrez, 34, and Javier Nolasco-Sanchez, 26. Both are U.S. permanent residents. They remain in the El Paso County Detention Facility charged with conspiracy to transport undocumented aliens, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
The three aliens they were transporting told BEST members they each paid $1,800 to be smuggled into the United States and taken to Los Angeles. All but one will remain in the country until the investigation is completed. ICE seized the two tractor-trailers.
More arrests occurred on Tuesday when ICE agents were conducting surveillance in South El Paso. They observed suspicious activity in what they suspected to be a “drop house,” where human smugglers temporarily stage smuggled aliens. Other BEST team members responded to the call from ICE and at the house they discovered eight males and eight female illegal aliens. When found, the aliens were inside or trying to exit through the back door of an apartment in the 1100 block of 7th Street. Three of the aliens were juveniles, two males and a female. Most of them were from the Mexico City area. All but two have already been returned to Mexico. They told investigators that they had paid between $1,500 and $2,000 to be smuggled into the United States and taken to California, Kansas, Wisconsin, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco.
The smugglers took the aliens to the apartment Tuesday morning and planned to remain there until they could be transported to other drop houses or hotels throughout the El Paso area to wait to be taken to their final destinations. All appeared to be in good health.
BEST team members also arrested three suspected smugglers at the apartment: Iris Guereca, 20, a U.S. citizen and El Paso resident; Rene Raul Taylor Lopez, 20; and Francisco Alejandro Lopez-Vasquez, 21. Taylor Lopez and Lopez-Vasquez are Mexican nationals who illegally entered the United States.
“We will continue to work with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to identify and dismantle these illegal underground transportation organizations,” said Roberto G. Medina, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in El Paso. “Targeting these smuggling organizations is critical to securing our borders and ensuring compliance with our immigration and customs laws.”
“With each arrest we enhance public safety, while restoring integrity to our nation’s immigration system,” Medina added.
BEST is an ICE-led, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) national initiative created along the border. The El Paso BEST team was formed in October 2006. Since its inception, the El Paso BEST team has arrested and prosecuted 78 individuals, obtained 21 federal indictments and earned convictions against 21 people. The team has also seized 41 vehicles, two weapons and more than $86,000 in cash. BEST has also seized 459 pounds of marijuana and 70 pounds of cocaine. The team has returned 331 illegal aliens to their country of origin.
Officers from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are co-located in the task force to share information. This close coordination among law enforcement agencies also helps to identify and eliminate cross-border criminal organizations, such as alien smuggling networks, and the supporting infrastructure that sustains them.
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