U.S. Soldiers Arrested For Allegedly Smuggling Illegal Immigrants

Two active-duty U.S. soldiers were arrested for allegedly smuggling undocumented immigrants into the U.S.

Border patrol officers arrested the two soldiers, Marco Antonio Nava Jr. and Joseph Cleveland, on June 18 for attempted to smuggle two Mexican nationals into America at the Falfurias, Texas, Border Patrol Station Checkpoint, KFOX reports.

The soldiers were out of uniform but told Border Patrol that they were from the Fort Bliss U.S. Army post, which serves as the headquarters for the El Paso Intelligence Center, a federal tactical operational intelligence center.

“We are aware that two Fort Bliss Soldiers have been arrested,” Fort Bliss spokesman Mike Brantley said, according to KFOX. “We can confirm they are both assigned to the 377 Transportation Company here; however, as this is an ongoing investigation we cannot comment further.”

According to a debriefing, Nava said the pair had smuggled in undocumented immigrants in exchange for money once before for the same operation, which he said was led by a Private First Class and included several others who were actively involved.

One week before the arrest, Nava said, members of the smuggling ring illegally brought six Mexican citizens unauthorized to enter the U.S. through the same checkpoint without incident and dropped them off a few miles north of Houston, Texas.

“Nava stated that all of the aliens were simply sitting inside the vehicles with them,” the official report states.

For that trip, each smuggler received $1,000 cash, while Nava and Cleveland expected to receive $1,500 for the June 18 trip that they did not complete.

This is not the first time Texas soldiers have gotten into trouble for illegally transporting unauthorized immigrants across the border. In May, a judge sentenced two former soldiers to between one and two years in prison with additional probation time for their involvement in a similar large smuggling ring, for which they were busted in 2014, Breitbart Texas reported.

Sources: KFOX, Breitbart Texas / Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons