Latest news with #FarlisAlmonte
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Three CBP officers accused of allowing undocumented migrants to enter US
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Three on-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers accused of allowing vehicles with undocumented individuals to pass through their lanes into the U.S. without inspection at the San Ysidro Port of Entry face multiple charges. Farlis Almonte, 38, of San Diego, Ricardo Rodriguez, 34, of Tijuana, Mexico, and Kairy Stephania Quiñonez, 31, of Imperial Beach, have all been charged with Conspiracy to Bring in Aliens for Financial Gain and Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain, Aiding and Abetting, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday. The three CBP officers allegedly 'revealed their lane assignments and hours they were scheduled to work the primary inspection booths at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, so that co-conspirators would know when it was safe to transport undocumented individuals across the border with impunity — sometimes using code words to gain admittance,' according to the indictment. The indictment alleges the defendants falsely reported into the Transportation Enforcement Communications System database the number of occupants in the co-conspirators' vehicles 'to conceal the fact that those vehicles contained undocumented individuals.' Almonte and Rodriguez, both of whom have also been charged with Receipt of Bribes by Public Official, allegedly failed to enforce the immigration laws of the U.S. by allowing vehicles with undocumented immigrants to enter the U.S. in exchange for money, per the indictment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
Border patrol officers busted in bribery scheme to let migrants into U.S.
A pair of border patrol agents based in Southern California are accused of taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow vehicles carrying undocumented migrants to pass unchecked through the nation's busiest port of entry, prosecutors said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez, both of whom manned inspection booths at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, are facing a series of federal charges in connection with the scheme, including conspiracy to bring in aliens for financial gain and receipt of bribes by a public official. Former border patrol officer sentenced for smuggling migrants, cocaine Queens man smuggled Pakistani, Bangladeshi nationals across northern border An investigation was launched into the duo after a group of smugglers arrested last year claimed they'd been working with the U.S. border inspectors. They alleged the agents would inform co-conspirators in Mexico which lanes they had been assigned to work, and then wave through vans carrying people without proper documentation into the United States. Prosecutors said the suspects received thousands of dollars for each van they allowed to cross the border. They were taken into custody last week after investigators uncovered text messages they'd exchanged with human traffickers in Mexico, in addition to unexplained cash deposits into their bank accounts, according to a criminal complaint. One alleged smuggler's cellphone had a screenshot of a message involving one person named 'Farli USA,' who had been providing his shift times, according to court documents obtained by NBC San Diego. Prosecutors said there's also surveillance video of at least one instance of a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint, and while there was a driver and a passenger, only the driver was documented as having entered the country. With News Wire Services
