A South Texas man pleaded guilty on February 13 to smuggling 36 undocumented aliens in the back of a tractor-trailer following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Eusebio Cavazos, a 33-year-old resident of Alamo, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to transporting aliens into or within the U.S.
He is scheduled to be sentenced May 15 and faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 possible fine.
During the hearing, it was revealed that Cavazos drove a tractor-trailer into the primary inspection lane at the Border Patrol checkpoint near Saritaon on December 13, 2024.
Upon initial inspection, a K-9 alerted to the possible presence of humans in the trailer.
Authorities referred him to a secondary inspection, where they discovered 36 undocumented aliens in the back of the trailer and nothing else.
A total of 36 aliens were discovered in the trailer, including 15 from Guatemala, 10 from Honduras, eight from Mexico and three from El Salvador.
All 36 had illegally entered the U.S., and five have pending charges for allegedly illegally re-entering the U.S. after previously being removed.
During an investigation by ICE HSI Corpus Christi, Cavazos admitted that someone had hired him to drive all 36 illegal aliens from a point near Donna to Houston and promised to pay him $1,000 per alien that he smuggled.
Cavazos will remain in custody pending his sentencing.
