Border crime busts in TX, OK: cartel tunnel trafficking, fake ID enterprise

(The Center Square) – Several major arrests have led to convictions and sentencings for border crimes in Texas and Oklahoma.

In El Paso, Texas, a 20-year-old man was sentenced to 33 months in prison for smuggling illegal foreign nationals through a tunnel connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso. The case dates to 2024 when Homeland Security Investigations-El Paso and Border Patrol agents began investigating a cross-border tunnel smuggling operation. Intelligence revealed a sophisticated tunnel had been built under the Rio Grande River by members of La Nueva Empresa, an international drug cartel. The tunnel was equipped with electricity and ventilation and led to a box car with a trap door to move people inside and into the U.S.

Investigators uncovered that Oscar Ivan Carrillo and his co-conspirators used handheld tools to connect existing storm drains to the tunnel and guided illegal border crossers through them. Once they exited the storm drain they climbed up into a modi...