US mom allegedly paid to smuggle children across the border with plans to drop them off at undisclosed location: Report



A couple was recently arrested after they allegedly received money to smuggle two foreign children across the United States border and drop them off at an undisclosed address, according to Border Report.

Laura Aracely Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen and mother, was accused of trafficking two young Mexican children into the country last month. Rodriguez was accompanied by her husband, Cristian Velez Gutierrez, their daughter, and grandchild.

'The lady is driving me to be reunited with my parents.'

After crossing the border, Rodriguez was stopped by Border Patrol agents at a tactical highway checkpoint near Westmoreland, California. When asked for identification, Rodriguez provided her U.S. passport card, and Gutierrez, a legal permanent resident, handed over his green card documentation. The couple told law enforcement officers that they were on their way to a nearby shopping center.

Border Patrol agents also observed two young boys inside the vehicle, which the couple claimed were also their children. However, officers requested a secondary inspection after Gutierrez began stuttering and looking away, Border Report stated.

While conducting a more thorough inspection, the older of the two boys told Border Patrol agents, "The lady is driving me to be reunited with my parents."

When confronted, Rodriguez admitted that the boys were not her children but that she had been paid $6,000 to transport them from Mexicali, Mexico, to an undisclosed address in Indio, California, according to a complaint affidavit reviewed by Border Report. It is not clear who made the request or paid Rodriguez to smuggle the children.

Rodriguez stated that she used her children's identity documents to get the two boys across the border into California. Because the children were asleep at the time they reached the port of entry, they were not questioned by Border Patrol agents.

Gutierrez reportedly admitted to law enforcement agents that he was aware that the boys were not legally allowed to enter the U.S. He stated that he joined his wife on the journey "so that she would not be alone," according to the court records.

The couple was arrested, and Rodriguez entered a not-guilty plea on August 1. Their underage daughter was released from custody.

According to Office of Refugee Resettlement records obtained by Border Report, the older boy was released to "a parent or guardian" in the U.S. to serve as a witness in the case.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas National Guard soldier accused of attempting to smuggle illegal alien across border: 'I am so stupid'



A Texas National Guard soldier admitted that he demonstrated a serious lapse in judgment after officials reportedly caught him attempting to smuggle an illegal alien across the southern border in a government-issued SUV that also had a weapon inside.

Just before 4 p.m. last Sunday, an unidentified Texas National Guard soldier was arrested in or near Kinney County, Texas, after the government vehicle he had been driving at some point also carried a passenger suspected of being an illegal immigrant, according to reporting from Ali Bradley, a NewsNation journalist covering the southern border.

Law enforcement became suspicious after the soldier quickly "turned around when he approached a pop-up tactical Border Patrol checkpoint off 674 in Kinney County that had only been operational for a few days," Bradley wrote, citing Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe. Agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety then began pursuing the vehicle and ultimately brought it to a stop using spike strips.

After the driver, who was wearing street clothes, had been extricated from the vehicle, the officers on the scene seemed to sense immediately that they'd stumbled upon a sensitive case involving one of their own. When examining various cards ostensibly removed from the driver's wallet, several officials try to determine the driver's military affiliation.

"National Guard? State Guard?" one officer asks.

"He said Army," another replies.

The officer whose bodycam footage Bradley shared sighs heavily throughout the video. When the driver alerts him that there is a weapon inside the vehicle, the officer exclaims, "Oh, you got a weapon in the vehicle, too? Jesus Christ, man!" The presence of the weapon "escalated the smuggling charge," Bradley reported, though the exact charges against the driver remain unclear.

When asked why he had attempted to evade police, the driver states that he was "very scared." As he is placed in handcuffs, he adds, "Man, I am so stupid."

"Yeah, you are f***ing stupid, man," another officer quickly retorts.

— (@)

No other individual appears to have been in the vehicle at the time the driver was arrested. However, multiple officers reported having seen at least one person "bail[] out," likely from the vehicle in question. "I saw the one on the fence," one officer stated.

Another brief exchange caught on the video indicated that a "Hispanic male" had been spotted in connection with the vehicle, but most of the details of that conversation are inaudible.

According to Bradley, the driver had allegedly been "promised" somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000 to smuggle the alleged illegal alien. The driver was reportedly deployed to Eagle Pass, Texas, from McAllen as part of Operation Lone Star, an initiative from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to deter illegal border crossings. The incident remains under investigation by the Texas DPS.

Both Bradley and Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office and the Texas DPS for comment, and Newsweek made an additional request for comment from the Kinney County Sheriff's Office as well. It appears that none of these offices or agencies have yet replied.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

‘Put A Pistol In Your Backpack’: Northern Border Residents On Edge Over Increased Migrant Traffic

'Border Patrol’s not usually around'

House Passes Bill To Slap Major Criminal Penalties On Migrants And Smugglers Who Flee Border Patrol

'My district sees high-speed car chases coming through our communities every day,' said Ciscomani
85,000 Minors MISSING After Being Released into the US: Who Is Responsible?

85,000 Minors MISSING After Being Released into the US: Who Is Responsible?

There’s Nothing Humane About Emboldening The Corrupt Cartels Exploiting Our Open Border

Under the guise of charity, a Rhode Island principal asked her staff to send ransom money to a cartel to pay a child’s smuggling debt.

Thanks To Biden’s Border Crisis, The Million-Dollar Migrant Smuggling Industry Is Now Worth Billions

Just a year and a half of President Joe Biden’s border crisis has emboldened dangerous cartels for decades to come.

Human Smuggler Says It’s Easier To Smuggle Under The Biden Administration

Biden's 'giving them asylum'

Gov. Greg Abbott Says Texas Will Build A Wall Because Biden’s Border Crisis ‘Is No Laughing Matter’

Gov. Greg Abbott said his state would begin constructing a border wall to curb President Joe Biden's raging border crisis and surges in illegal contraband.

‘Who Loses? The American People’: Tomi Lahren Says Border Crisis Is Lining Pockets Of Coyotes, Smugglers And Cartels

'Get a bus ticket, go into the United States, get a notice to appear and then disappear'