2 Lawful Permanent Residents Charged with Attempting to Smuggle Juvenile Through El Paso Port of Entry

EL PASO, Texas - Two Lawful Permanent Residents from Mexico made their initial appearances in a federal court in El Paso this week, facing criminal charges related to their alleged smuggling of illegal aliens, including a minor, from Mexico into the United States, announced U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons.

According to court documents, on June 7, Abraham Romo-Rivera, 39, and Amairani Munoz-Molinar, 29, approached the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in a vehicle and applied for admission into the United States. The vehicle had New Mexico plates, and Romo-Rivera was allegedly the driver of the vehicle. Romo-Rivera was accompanied by multiple passengers, including Munoz-Molinar. A criminal complaint alleges that Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar presented the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer (CBPO) with their Lawful Permanent Resident Cards and Romo-Rivera additionally presented identification documents for two other passengers, declaring them to be his son and daughter. The documents allegedly bore the information of other individuals, and the CBPO noticed that the female passenger attempted to avoid showing her face.

The CBPO referred the vehicle to secondary inspection, where Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar allegedly maintained that the two passengers were their son and daughter. The CBPO also recognized that the photo on the female's supposed identification document did not match the female, leading her to allegedly disclose that she was not the person depicted on the I.D. and was a citizen of Mexico.

Further investigation revealed that Romo-Rivera was allegedly going to be paid $10,000 to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. During a pat-down search of Munoz-Molinar, a CBPO allegedly located a manila envelope containing the actual Mexican birth certificates and Mexican passports belonging to the two illegal aliens. The male passenger was determined to be a minor.

Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar were arrested and charged with one count of bringing in and harboring aliens. If convicted, they each face up to 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the case with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Van Pelt is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

###