A former U.S. Border Patrol agent, his wife, and a male accomplice have been charged with unlawfully hiring illegal aliens as drivers for their trucking company and fraudulently obtaining immigration permits, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a statement that former Border Patrol agent Ricardo Gonzalez, his wife Natalia Gonzalez, and Alex Lopez were arrested on Nov. 17 and charged for their roles in a conspiracy to hire illegal aliens.
The three accused conspirators, who were responsible for running the day-to-day operations at Gonmor Inc., a Laredo-based commercial trucking company, allegedly prepared fraudulent paperwork allowing the illegal immigrants to obtain an I-94 permit to stay in the United States longer than 30 days.
The paperwork allegedly included a letter from a fake Mexican trucking company stating that the individuals were employed there as truck drivers and requested that they receive an I-94 permit so they could travel into the United States.
Illegal aliens seeking entry were allegedly instructed by the conspirators to present the letter to border officials in Laredo and apply for the permit. Once the individuals received the I-94, they were hired by the conspirators to transport cargo throughout the United States even though they were not legally eligible to work in the country.
“Gonzalez is a former BP agent and allegedly utilized his knowledge, training, and experience to facilitate the employment of undocumented individuals and obtaining the I-94 permits,” prosecutors said in the statement.
A conviction on the lesser charge of conspiracy to fraudulently obtain immigration permits can result in a penalty of up to five years behind bars.
The more serious charges of conspiring to encourage an illegal alien to remain in the United States or conspiring to shield them from detection each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
It comes amid what many have described as a crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border, with millions of illegal immigrants having crossed into the United States since President Joe Biden took office last year, drawing Republican condemnation and accusations.
The influx has seen Texas Gov. Greg Abbott turn to busing illegal aliens out of the state and toward predominantly Democrat-run areas of the country in a bid to relieve overwhelmed Texas communities.
Also, Abbott has invoked “invasion clauses” in response to the border crisis, allowing his administration to use the National Guard to repel illegal aliens, construct a border wall, and deploy gunboats.