CBP officer arrested in Texas, charged with smuggling undocumented migrants
View of the Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, bordering the United States, as North American authorities hand over dozens of Mexican migrants to personnel from the National Migration Institute in recent days, on February 2
EL PASO, Texas - A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer is accused of smuggling undocumented migrants for financial gain and conspiring to bring drugs across the border to sell.
What we know:
Prosecutors in the Western District of Texas said 32-year-old Manuel Perez, Jr. tried to smuggle noncitizens into the United States multiple times between Dec. 21, 2023, and Feb. 5, 2025 by allowing a vehicle driven by an undocumented migrant to enter the country through the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso as part of a human smuggling operation.
Perez is also accused of conspiracy to possess five kilograms of cocaine for distribution throughout Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina.
He is charged with one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States for financial gain, three counts of bringing aliens to the United States for financial gain and one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
What we don't know:
We do not know the court date for Perez.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison for the human smuggling conspiracy charge, three to 10 years in prison for each of the three human smuggling charges and 10 years to life for the drug trafficking charge.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas