A woman living in Mississippi has been arrested for assuming the name and identity of a U.S. citizen two decades after she had been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs across the Mexico border.
Elena Cortez-Acosta, 51, who had been living in Richland was sentenced to two years in jail for aggravated identity theft.
Officials say Customs and Border Patrol officers arrested Cortez-Acosta in 2000 for attempting to smuggle 23.84 kilograms of marijuana in the backseat of her vehicle. She was then removed from the U.S. and returned to Mexico as a Mexican national.
At some point, Acosta reentered the U.S. “without inspection and assumed the name and identity of a U.S. citizen,” according to documents.
After assuming the identity, she fraudulently applied for a Transportation Worker Identity Credential — a document used to gain access to critical infrastructure areas or sites.
Homeland Security Investigations agents and the Transportation Security Administration Office intervened and arrested her before she received a TWIC card.