A former member of National Guard The US district court in Texas has been convicted of conspiring to smuggle migrants in the country.
according to a Press release From the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mario Sandowal began smuggling people in the country after deployment with Texas National Guard in July 2024. Operation Loan Star,
During the one -day test on 21 July, agents along with Ice’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) presented text messages from Sandowal’s phone, in which they expressed the need for drivers for the trip. Rio Grande Valley Destination to north of immigration posts. Footage was also presented during the test, which showed them at an immigration checkpoint, sending them about the texts about “law enforcement and K-9 appearance”.
Investigators allege that Sandowal’s works were motivated by money.
“His actions directly reduced the mission that he was deployed to support and threatened his fellow guard members,” said HSI Houston, a special agent with a special agent Chad Plant.
Sandoval was discharged from the Texas National Guard in October 2024. The 27 -year -old defense argued that there was no conspiracy and his text messages were dropped from the context.
His sentence is scheduled for 22 October, and he is facing up to 10 years in the federal prison.
during a Press conference July 2, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that there were 4,200 National Guardmen on state active duty in support of Operation Loan Star in Texas.
According to the Department of Justice, Sandoval is part of the case Operation take back americaThe nationwide initiative has been designed to achieve the total elimination of Cartel and Transnational Criminal Organizations “.
