EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two U.S. citizens are facing felony charges after border officers retrieved an unconscious migrant squeezed into the back of the seat of a Ford F-150 pickup at the San Ysidro port of entry.
The May 28 incident prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection to call for an ambulance to take Ivan Montes Velasquez, a citizen of Mexico with no authorization to be in the country, to a San Diego County hospital. Montes was placed in CBP custody after doctors released him from the hospital.
Border officers found Montes after becoming suspicious of Jaime Antonio Luna, the American driving the pickup. Court records allege that Luna began to tightly grip the steering wheel and avoid eye contact when a CBP officer at the port asked him where he was headed and what he was doing in Mexico.
The body language prompted the officer to send the truck and its two apparent occupants to a secondary inspection area. Records show the driver and his passenger, Eduardo Jesus Luna, were told to exit the vehicle; officers conducting a comprehensive inspection located Montes unresponsive behind the seats. Records show vehicles can wait in line for up to 130 minutes before reaching the inspection booths.
In interviews with investigators, the men gave wildly different stories. Jaime Antonio Luna said he resides in Tijuana, got off work, picked up Eduardo Jesus Luna and the two went to a store to buy groceries before deciding to drive to the U.S. side of the border. He made no mention of the migrant behind the seat.
Eduardo Jesus Luna, however, said he and Jaime Antonio Luna went to a Walmart in Tijuana. There he was approached by two unknown men with guns who forced him to allow the migrant to be placed behind the F-150’s seat. According to a criminal complaint affidavit, Eduardo Jesus Luna told investigators the gunmen told him they would follow him all the way to the border to make sure he complied.
Investigators also interviewed Montes after he recovered. The migrant said he was going to pay $1,000 to be smuggled across the border. From there, he was planning to find his way to Seattle to live with family members and look for a job, the complaint states.
Both suspects were charged with bringing illegal aliens into the country for financial gain and aiding and abetting the commission of a crime. They made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on May 29 and are scheduled for arraignment on June 27.