Latest Legal News from the Federal Criminal Courts in the United States

May 22, 2007

MEXICAN ALIEN SMUGGLER SENTENCED FOR BRINGING UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS AND ASSAULTING BORDER PATROL AGENTS

(LAREDO, TX) – Timoteo Macias-Tejeda, 28, a Mexican national has been sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence for smuggling undocumented aliens into the U.S. and for assaulting Border Patrol agents during the smuggling, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At a sentencing hearing held today, May 21, 2007, U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen sentenced Macias-Tejeda to 100 concurrent months in prison on each of two assault charges (one for each agent), and 60 months on the alien smuggling charges to run concurrent to the 100-month imprisonment for the assault charges. Following his imprisonment term, without possibility of parole, the defendant was also ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release, with a special condition of no illegal re-entry. He is also facing a special assessment of $700.00. As a Mexican national, Macias-Tejeda is subject to deportation upon his release from prison. Macias-Tejeda pled guilty to the federal immigration law violation and to the assault charges in May of 2006.

The investigation leading to the charges against Macias-Tejeda is the result of the investigative efforts of the U. S. Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to identify and locate a Mexican alien smuggler who shot in the direction of Border Patrol agents performing their duties along the international border with Mexico. During the afternoon of December 28, 2005, two Border Patrol Agents responded to a camera operator’s report of possible smuggling activity along the riverbanks of Rio Bravo, Texas. Agents stopped four undocumented aliens who had just crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the United States. While waiting for a transport unit, the agents saw and were warned by camera operators that there was a person pointing a rifle at them from the Mexican side of the river. The individual was later identified as Macias-Tejeda. The agents decided it was unsafe to remain in the area and decided to transport the undocumented aliens themselves. After the undocumented aliens got in the agents’ vehicle, while an agent was going around the vehicle, a shot was fired. The agent felt a bullet impact in close proximity to him. The other agent and the undocumented aliens heard the shot. After the shot was fired, the camera operator panned the camera and was able to find Macias-Tejeda holding a rifle standing on a bluff on the Mexican side of the river.

After his arrest in February of 2006, and after being advised and waiving his rights, Macias-Tejeda admitted to FBI agents that he fired a shot with a .22 caliber rifle in the direction of the agents so that two smugglers could escape. Macias-Tejeda stated that he was working for an alien smuggling organization based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The leader of the organization had ordered him and others to shoot in the direction of agents apprehending groups of undocumented aliens making landfall in the United States so that guides could make it back through the river to the Mexican side. Macias-Tejeda stated that he and others involved in the operation were to receive $40.00 dollars for each alien they crossed.