Federal agents arrested two people on suspicion of human smuggling after finding three children and 10 adults being kept in “deplorable living conditions” at a Northeast El Paso migrant stash house, authorities said.
Edith Marie Dominguez, a U.S. citizen, and Gregory Jose Daniel Martinez-Tovar, a Venezuelan citizen illegally in the country, were arrested on one count each of alien smuggling, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons announced in a news release.
Border Patrol agents investigate human smuggling in El Paso
U.S. Border Patrol agents were conducting surveillance on April 20 in connection with a suspected human smuggling scheme at a house in the 10400 block of Bon Aire Drive near Sun Valley Drive in Northeast El Paso, a criminal complaint affidavit states.
The agents followed Dominguez and Martinez-Tovar when they left the house to go to stores in the area. The agents approached them in a store’s parking lot and asked them about their citizenship.
Dominguez stated she was a U.S. citizen, while Martinez-Tovar admitted he was from Venezuela and was illegally in the U.S., the affidavit states.
The agents notified them that they had obtained a warrant from a federal judge to search the Bon Aire Drive house. The agents asked what they would find at the house.
Dominguez said her younger sibling and construction workers were at the house, the affidavit states.
Migrant adults, children found in ‘deplorable living conditions’
When agents executed the search warrant at the house, they found “deplorable living conditions with scattered trash and windows covered with dark curtains or blankets, common indicators of a stash house,” the affidavit states.
A search of the house found 10 adults and three children hiding in different rooms. An investigation revealed all of the adults and one of the children were illegally in the U.S. Two children, both U.S. citizens, were released to a family friend, the affidavit states.
Agents found “other evidence of smuggling during the search, including ledgers, cell phones, U.S. currency, and multiple firearms,” the news release states.
The migrants were taken to a Border Patrol station for questioning.
Dominguez told agents she got involved in the smuggling operation about a year ago and was working for her mother, the affidavit states. No further information on the mother is included in court documents.
The migrants were being kept at the mother’s house, Dominguez said.
A human smuggler would send Dominguez instructions and she would pick up the migrants at an apartment near her house or at Memorial Park, she told agents, the affidavit states.
Dominguez had picked up the migrants found at the house over the weekend, the affidavit states. She added she had allegedly housed more than 50 migrants, including children, since October.
She also would allegedly drive the migrants from El Paso to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dominguez told agents she would “scout the immigration checkpoints” for her mother, the affidavit states.
Martinez-Tovar worked as a caretaker of the house when her and her mother were away, Dominguez told agents, the affidavit states. Martinez-Tovar was also allegedly tasked with taking videos of the migrants and sending them to human smugglers.
Agents interviewed Martinez-Tovar. He told agents he had lived at the house owned by his aunt, who is Dominguez’s mother, since he turned 18 years old. He admitted he would act as a caretaker for the house when his aunt and Dominguez were gone, the affidavit states.
The aunt would allegedly tell Martinez-Tovar to take “video verification” of the migrants and send the videos to her, he told agents.
Martinez-Tovar said he would tell the migrants where to eat, use the restroom and to clean the house, the affidavit states.
He added the migrants were “not free to leave the house” and he would buy them food, the affidavit states.
Dominguez and Martinez-Tovar were arrested on suspicion of alien smuggling. They were booked into the El Paso County Jail and are being held without bond, jail and court records show.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Migrants found in ‘deplorable’ conditions inside El Paso stash house
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
