A Mexican legal resident of the United States who arranged to bring undocumented migrants into California, thirteen of whom were killed in a traffic accident in Holtville, California earlier this month, was arrested as he reentered the United States from Mexico on Monday, USA Today reports.
Jose Cruz Noguez, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody at the Calexico Port of Entry by FBI agents. He is charged with multiple counts relating to aiding foreigners to enter the country illegally. An SUV with 25 people Noguez got across the border by cutting a wide hole in a fence was involved in a March 2nd accident with a tractor trailer about ten miles north of the border, killing 13 in the SUV.
“Cramming dozens of people into eight-passenger vehicles and driving recklessly to avoid detection shows an utter disregard for human life,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement. “We will find and prosecute smugglers who use these methods and cause such tragic and avoidable deaths.”
A cooperating witness, himself part of Noguez’s operation, recorded a conversation with Noguez in which he admitted to getting the SUV full of Mexicans and Guatemalans into California. He also said he organized other vehicles to come through.