Border Patrol Agents Arrest Two DACA Recipients for Attempting to Smuggle Illegal Aliens

U.S. Border Patrol agents search an undocumented immigrant after taking him into custody / Getty

BY: Cameron Cawthorne 
October 13, 2017 3:25 pm

U.S. Border Patrol agents recently made two separate arrests of juvenile recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for attempting to smuggle illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, on Thursday published a press release detailing the arrests of two so-called "Dreamers," illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors who receive legal protections under DACA, who are nationals from Guatemala and Mexico.

On October 4, 2017, Border Patrol agents arrested a juvenile attempting to smuggle two illegal aliens. Agents at the Border Patrol Checkpoint on Interstate Highway 35 encountered a passenger vehicle at the primary inspection lane. The driver was questioned regarding his immigration status and was referred for further inspection after a Border Patrol canine alerted to the presence of concealed humans and/or narcotics.

After further inspection, Border Patrol agents discovered two adult male subjects concealed in the trunk of the vehicle. An immigration inspection of the two subjects revealed that they were both from the country of Brazil. The driver, a juvenile, was identified as a National from the country of Guatemala and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2016. All subjects were processed for removal proceedings.

Three days later, on Oct. 7, border patrol agents arrested another juvenile at the same checkpoint in the Laredo, Texas sector of the border who was smuggling one illegal alien.

Border Patrol agents discovered one adult male subject concealed in the trunk of the vehicle. An immigration inspection of the subject revealed that he was from the country of Mexico. [The] driver, a juvenile, was identified as a National from the country of Mexico and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Both juvenile drivers were processed for removal proceedings because their arrests are a violation of DACA conditions, according to Customs and Border Protection. The individuals found hidden in both vehicles were also processed for removal proceedings.

The arrests come at a time when Congress is debating what to do about the roughly 800,000 DACA recipients in the United States after the Trump administration rescinded the program last month.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that it would be "wonderful" to solve the DACA problem in the U.S., signaling that he will need Congress to support a security wall on the border in return for his support of the Obama-era program.