Topline
A Texas resident pleaded guilty Tuesday to smuggling two men near the U.S.-Mexico border in an American flag-draped coffin, an unusual scheme thwarted by Border Patrol last year, as immigration officials grapple with higher-than-average migrant arrests.
The border barrier between the United States and Mexico near Ciudad Juarez on May 20, 2019.
Key Facts
Zachary Blood of Galveston agreed to plead guilty to one count of smuggling an alien, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, according to a Tuesday press release from federal prosecutors in southern Texas.
Border Patrol agents stopped Blood in October 2021 at a checkpoint near Encino, Texas — which is more than 50 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border — and Blood claimed a coffin sitting in the back of his minivan contained a “dead guy, Navy guy,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
However, two Border Patrol officers and U.S. military veterans noticed the coffin was “rusty and dented,” and the American flag was “crudely taped on the coffin with clear packaging tape and zip tied on one corner,” the complaint read.
The immigration agents then discovered the coffin contained two men from Mexico who admitted to entering the United States unlawfully, one of whom told police he paid thousands of dollars to smugglers, according to prosecutors.
Forbes has reached out to Blood’s attorney for comment.
Tangent
Blood was caught at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Brooks County, Texas. The rural county doesn’t abut the U.S.-Mexico border, but it’s a well-trodden and often-treacherous route for migrants looking to reach the interior of the United States. In August, a van crammed with about 30 people — most of whom were believed to be migrants, local law enforcement said — swerved and crashed in Brooks County, killing the driver and nine passengers.
Key Background
Migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border have surged over the last year. Border Patrol made a record 1.66 million arrests during the fiscal year ending in September, and although border arrests have fallen somewhat from their summertime peak, apprehensions still surpassed 170,000 last month, more than double December 2020’s total. Most arrestees last month were single adults, but nearly 50,000 people crossed the border as families with children. This jump has strained immigration officials’ resources at times, forcing the federal government to house thousands of unaccompanied minors in overcrowded tents last spring. The increase is partly due to shifting border strategies: Under a controversial pandemic-era policy, the Trump and Biden Administrations have expelled from the country many migrants — and most single adults — almost immediately after their arrest, causing a surge in recidivism rates as migrants make multiple crossing attempts, Customs and Border Protection says. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s staff argue migration is largely up due to poverty and violence in Central America, while some Biden critics think the president’s approach to immigration — which has been somewhat less hardline than the Trump Administration’s — has caused crossings to spike.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/01/25/texan-pleads-guilty-to-smuggling-2-men-in-coffin-near-us-mexico-border/