A New Mexico man is accused of being a coordinator for a smuggling ring that transported undocumented migrants from stash houses in El Paso to Albuquerque, federal authorities said.
Brian Miguel Ramirez, 25, also known as "Chino," was arrested July 12 in Albuquerque as part of an investigation by the U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations
, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Mexico said in a news release on Tuesday, July 28.Ramirez faces a federal charge of conspiracy to bring and harbor undocumented migrants. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. He appeared in federal court in Las Cruces on July 21 and was granted a $10,000 bond. It is unclear if he is still in custody.
gang takedown
Ramirez's case is linked to a May 7 arrest of a driver and two undocumented Mexican migrants, who tried to circle past the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 25 north of Las Cruces, stated a criminal complaint filed by a Border Patrol agent obtained by the El Paso Times.
Border Patrol agents apprehended an adult and a juvenile after they set off sensors while attempting to circumvent the checkpoint on foot, resulting in the arrest of the driver of a red pickup truck found waiting nearby, the document stated.
The driver told agents that he dropped off the two migrants south of the I-25 checkpoint and planned to pick them up after they passed the checkpoint to continue to Albuquerque, complaint stated.
El Paso stash houses found
The driver also allegedly told agents about stash houses in El Paso and how Ramirez was allegedly the smuggling coordinator and hid migrants at his own home in Albuquerque as migrants traveled through New Mexico, the complaint stated.
Investigators pulled from the driver's cell phone messages allegedly communicating with Ramirez about smuggling activity, the complaint noted.
The driver also identified the location of two stash houses in El Paso and Socorro, Texas, the complaint stated.
During a knock-and-talk operation on May 12, agents detained four undocumented migrants from Mexico (two adults and two unaccompanied children) at a home in the 300 block of North Carolina Drive in El Paso's Lower Valley, the document stated.
On May 19, agents arrested two additional migrants at a home in the 10300 block of Jimenez Lane in Socorro, the complaint noted.
Accused Albuquerque stash house coordinator arrested
When federal agents served a search warrant at Ramirez's home in Albuquerque on July 9, Ramirez allegedly admitted to working for a smuggling organization and that he was tasked with recruiting drivers to transport "boxes," the code word they used for people, from El Paso to Albuquerque, the complaint stated.
Ramirez allegedly told investigators that he was paid $50 per driver found and $100 for each migrant harbored at his home, the complaint stated. He allegedly admitted to having housed about 20 migrants at his home during the scheme.
Ramirez is accused of conspiring with the driver of the red truck "and others. known and unknown to transport, move, and harbor" undocumented migrants in the United States, the complaint stated.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Feds bust El Paso to Albuquerque migrant smuggler boss suspect
