DACA Recipient Busted Allegedly Smuggling Illegal Immigrants near Texas Border

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a Mexican national living in the U.S. under DACA protection on charges of human smuggling. The alleged incident occurred in the Texas border town of Laredo on Wednesday.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper on routine highway patrol in Laredo stopped a Ford Focus with three people in the vehicle. After becoming suspicious, the trooper called U.S. Border Patrol agents for assistance in determining the identity of the vehicle’s passengers, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

The agents identified a Mexican national who received temporary protected status under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Agents also determined the two passengers as illegal immigrants from Mexico being smuggled into the U.S.

Agents arrested the driver and the two Mexican nationals. The DACA recipient will likely face federal human smuggling charges. The two illegal immigrants could be prosecuted for unlawful entry into the U.S.

Agents seized the Ford Focus.

The arrest marks the fourth DACA recipient or former protectee to be arrested after allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants in less than a week.

Two days before the Texas incident, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents arrested another Mexican national with DACA status. Agents found four illegal immigrants from Mexico in his pickup truck. The agents observed the driver picking up the four Mexicans after tracking their footprints from the border.

On January 27, San Diego Sector agents arrested a Mexican national under DACA status after he admitted working as a scout for a human smuggling operation, Breitbart California’s Michelle Moons reported. Agents arrested another U.S. citizen in connection with the case, officials stated.

On January 24, agents arrested a yet another former DACA recipient on charges of human smuggling. The Mexican national had allowed his DACA status to lapse.