EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two alleged smugglers who tried to avoid arrest by driving at 95 miles per hour over a dark road in an SUV with the lights turned off are facing multiple felony charges.
A federal grand jury in Arizona this month charged Yoni Nemias Diaz Velasquez and Luis Estrada Gutierrez with several counts of conspiracy and transportation of illegal aliens for profit. Estrada faces an additional charge of illegal reentry after deportation.
Border arrests see slight bump in September, remain among lowest in years
The charges stem from an incident in which Border Patrol agents observed a Nissan Pathfinder come out of an unmanned highway checkpoint on State Route 86 at high speed and swerve around slower traffic in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 25.
Border agents caught up to the vehicle and turned on their patrol unit’s flashing lights; the driver of the Pathfinder failed to stop, turned off the lights and allegedly continued to weave through traffic at high speeds.
Man fleeing immigration agents is fatally struck by a vehicle on a Virginia highway
Court records show border agents called off the pursuit at an access road to Interstate 10 out of caution. They requested assistance from agents further down the road, who set up a tire deflation device in an area with no visible traffic…