EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Federal officials are linking members of a violent Mexican drug gang to a migrant stash house raided last week in Sunland Park, New Mexico.
The U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations and Sunland Park Police Department officers participated in a Feb. 6 search at an undisclosed address that resulted in the apprehension of 22 citizens of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala illegally present in the United States.
Additionally, Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers stopped three vehicles near the Vinton, Texas, exit of Interstate 10 with another seven migrants and three suspected smugglers.
One of the drivers, whose black Hummer was earlier observed at the targeted residence, allegedly told investigators he was working directly with members of La Nueva Empresa, a transnational criminal organization based in Juarez, Mexico. Ulises Marquez said his role in the organization was to harbor undocumented non-citizens at the home and arrange for their transportation to the interior of the United States in exchange for money, according to a federal complaint filed Feb. 9 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.