Man says Guatemalans, Mexican ‘just climbed’ into parked vehicle



by: Julian Resendiz
Posted: Dec 21, 2023 / 06:14 PM CST
Updated: Dec 21, 2023 / 06:14 PM CST






Helicopter patrol alerts border agents to suspected stash house in Sunland Park; brothers charged with transporting migrants


EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A Sunland Park, New Mexico, man who told border agents five Guatemalans and a Mexican citizen inside a parked SUV in front of his family’s home “must have randomly got in” is facing federal felony charges.

Bryan Hernandez, 24, was arrested this month after a helicopter patrol spotted two vehicles picking up migrants outside a warehouse near the U.S.-Mexico border and driving them to a residence on Meadow Vista Boulevard in Sunland Park. Agents already suspected the house of being used as a migrant stash house for some time, so ground units converged on the home, court records show.

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The agents found the six foreign nationals hiding inside a black Chevrolet Tahoe – with a shattered windshield and bullet holes in the glass – parked at the home. They also allegedly found discarded dirty clothing and empty food and beverage containers.

A man later identified as Hernandez came out of the house and was questioned by agents.

The man refused to let the agents enter the house to look for additional migrants; he had been involved in a previous arrest involving migrant smuggling and was taken into custody, records show.

Homeland Security Investigation agents who are members of an anti-smuggling task force questioned Hernandez on Dec. 16 and he allegedly admitted to serving prison time for a migrant smuggling arrest years earlier. Court records show he denied participating in the smuggling of the migrants and refused to let the agents search his cellphone.

One of the Guatemalans, however, told agents that Bryan Hernandez told them to get into the Tahoe when they arrived at the home.

He and another Guatemalan said a second man they identified as Bayron Hernandez took videos of them as “proof of life” for payment purposes. One of the migrants said he owed 30,000 quetzales (US$3,800) to the people who smuggled him into the United States.

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A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico accuses brothers Bryan Hernandez and Bayron Hernandez with the transportation of illegal aliens for profit. Bryan Hernandez was booked into the Otero County Prison Facility, records show.

The two migrants serving as material witnesses are being held by the U.S. Border Patrol.


https://www.borderreport.com/immigra...arked-vehicle/