Two U.S. soldiers have been charged in connection with a human smuggling case. The soldiers have been accused of trying to drive illegal immigrants through U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints north of the Texas Border.
On Wednesday morning, 19-year-old Marco Antonio Nava and 25-year-old Edmond Cleveland, both from El Paso, went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Ellington in Corpus Christi, Texas, who formally charged them.
The two men are named in a criminal indictment charging each of them with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and with one count of transporting aliens.
According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, both Nava and Cleveland tried to drive two illegal immigrants through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. Border Patrol agents discovered the two illegal immigrants hiding in the vehicle.
Falfurrias is approximately 80 miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico. U.S. Border Patrol agents have set up a checkpoint in an attempt to curb the flow of drug trafficking and human smuggling in the immediate area. Falfurrias and a similar checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, is considered to be the last barrier for Mexican drug cartels looking to get their goods into major U.S. cities.
Breitbart Texas has reported in the past about various cases where Mexican cartel linked human smuggling organizations have infiltrated and used active duty U.S. Army soldiers in an attempt to bypass Border Patrol checkpoints.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project and you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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