Soldiers patrolling border charged in alien-smuggling ring

EL PASO — A trio of National Guardsmen assigned to help stop illegal immigration in South Texas instead ran an immigrant smuggling operation using cellphone text messages, according to court records filed Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Laredo.
The soldiers allegedly negotiated the details, price and number of people who would be smuggled north in a series of text messages uncovered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, of Laredo, was arrested Thursday.

Also arrested were Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, of Laredo, and Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., 36, of Fort Worth.A Border Patrol agent found 24 illegal immigrants inside a van Torres was driving on Interstate 35 near Cotulla, Texas, about 68 miles north of the border, the U.S. attorney's office said. Torres was in uniform at the time of his arrest.

Prosecutors accused Hodge of helping Torres pass through a Border Patrol checkpoint on the highway by making it look as if the two were conducting Guard business.

Both are assigned to Operation Jump Start, President Bush's initiative to place Guard troops at the border to help local and federal authorities with immigration enforcement. All the soldiers volunteer for the border initiative.

Pacheco was accused of recruiting soldiers to transport the migrants for $1,000 to $3,500 a trip. He and Hodge were arrested Friday.

Lt. Gen. Charles Rodriguez, Texas' adjutant general, said he was extremely disappointed.

"Our military servicemembers have an affirmative obligation to be actively supportive of our law enforcement partners at every level of government," Rodriguez said. "This is our duty. Any breach of the public's trust and military law by our soldiers will be thoroughly investigated."

Prosecutors say the soldiers, who are being held on $75,000 bond, participated in several smuggling trips before last week's arrests.








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