Feds Bust 9 in El Paso Human Smuggling Ring

⏱ 2 min read

A brazen human smuggling ring in El Paso has been busted by federal authorities, who charged 9 individuals with immigration-related crimes after a traffic stop near Wichita Falls led to a trail of evidence.

According to court documents, Edgar Osmery Castellanos-Sabillon and Fernando Josue Betanco-Montoya, both Honduran nationals, were driving a vehicle carrying 8 aliens from Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico when they were pulled over by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on March 13.

An investigation revealed that the smuggled aliens had been housed in a stash house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Castellanos-Sabillon and Betanco-Montoya served as caretakers, feeding and sheltering them before attempting to transport them to Dallas.

One of the smuggled aliens had even posted on social media, thanking two known smugglers and admitting to crossing into the U.S. illegally, according to court documents.

Mexican national Miguel Campos-Chavelas, who had been deported from the U.S. in October 2024, is also charged with harboring illegal aliens after an investigation by U.S. Border Patrol agents led them to an apartment complex in El Paso, where they found Campos-Chavelas and a female co-conspirator with a third individual who was an illegal alien.