Texas man smuggling migrants abandoned them in freezing cold, feds say. One died
A Texas man has been sentenced to prison after he was accused of two human smuggling attempts, including one in which he abandoned a group of people during freezing temperatures, resulting in one person’s death, prosecutors said in a news release.
Eduardo Javier Jimenez, 27, pleaded guilty to each charge of smuggling.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Prosecutors said the Harlingen man was acting as a brush guide when he abandoned a group of 12 people in below freezing temperatures for over 15 hours.
In February, deputies encountered Jimenez on the side of the road, and he asked for a ride. The release said officers were suspicious that he was acting as a brush guide to smuggle people into the country because his pants were wet.
Later, officers caught a group of 12 people who had illegally skipped a nearby border patrol checkpoint, prosecutors said. They revealed their guide had abandoned them, the release said.
“Some in the group claimed their brush guide told them he needed to use the restroom and to go ahead, and he would catch up,” prosecutors said in the release.
Their guide did not come back. One in the group got hypothermia and died from dehydration, prosecutors said.
A week later, officers found Jimenez working as a brush guide for a different group of migrants. He admitted to officers that he was acting as a brush guide because a friend told him it was a way to make money, and he would be paid when he returned to Harlingen, court documents show.
He also told officers that he had been acting as a guide to the prior group during the freeze, prosecutors said.
While being questioned, Jimenez said the group had abandoned him. He later admitted that this was a lie, prosecutors said.
He has been sentenced to 85 months in prison with two years of supervised release.
