VETERAN EL PASO: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer who was briefly featured article about combating drug smuggling on the border was arrested in connection with smuggling undocumented immigrants, officials said.
Lawrence Madrid, 53, who has been with the agency 20 years, is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing.
Madrid, a supervisory agent, was arrested on “alien smuggling charges” at about 8 a.m. on Friday at his home in El Paso after a criminal complaint led to an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, DHS officials said in a statement.
He was booked in to El Paso County Jail the same day. Madrid posted bail on Monday. The bond amount was not listed in jail records.
Madrid has been working for the agency since 1995, officials said.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton.
According to an arrest affidavit, a man identified only as M.C. was detained in January 2014 by CBP officers in Anthony, N.M. M.C. told officers that his wife paid a man, only identified as O.C., to help smuggle him across the Bridge of the Americas international crossing in 2010. M.C. claimed that a CBP officer assisted in smuggling him, the affidavit states.
M.C. identified Madrid as the officer who allegedly helped smuggle him across the Bridge of the Americas in August 2010, according to the affidavit. M.C. told officers that he and two other Mexican citizens were allegedly smuggled through the pedestrian lane on the bridge where Madrid was working, the affidavit states.
The three men allegedly presented documents that did not allow them to enter the U.S. to Madrid, the affidavit states. M.C. claims that Madrid knew that the three men, who were walking in front of O.C., had paid to be smuggled across the border, the affidavit states. Madrid allegedly allowed the men to enter the U.S. illegally, the document states.
During the investigation, Homeland Security agents found that phone calls made by O.C. connected Madrid to incident. Work schedules also showed that Madrid was working at the border crossing the day of the alleged smuggling incident, the affidavits states.
Agents also received information in May 2014 that a man, identified only as E.D., had been smuggled in to the U.S. by a CBP officer. E.D. and his wife, identified as C.O., told officers that they had paid O.C. to smuggle E.D. across the border in 2011, the affidavit states. E.D. received a phone call on September 23, 2011 from an unknown man asking him to describe his clothes and told him to go to the Paso Del Norte port of entry and to sit on the third row of chairs in the lobby of the permit area. The man allegedly told E.D. that he would signal him to walk to the window he was working at, the affidavit states.
E.D. told officers that Madrid allegedly signaled him to the window and asked him to write his name down on a piece of paper. Madrid then walked away with the paper, came back a few minutes later and told E.D. to follow him, the affidavit states. Madrid allegedly walked E.D. across the pedestrian inspection lanes and allowed him to enter the U.S. illegally, according to the affidavit.
E.D. identified Madrid through a photo lineup. Investigators were able to corroborate E.D.’s story through phone records, international crossing records and interviews with other witnesses, the affidavit states.
CBP officials said they are working with investigators on the case, but had no further comment on the ongoing investigation.
“CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and has zero tolerance for corruption or misconduct within our ranks,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a statement. “CBP will fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigation of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off duty.”
Madrid was briefly featured in a 2010 NPR article which focused on CBP’s efforts to combat drug traffickers. The article states that Madrid worked at the Bridge of the Americas. The five small paragraphs featuring Madrid describe him inspecting a truck crossing the bridge.
The arrest of Madrid comes less than a month after a government report found that CBP is vulnerable to corruption.
The report, which was conducted by the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was released June 29. It states that “CBP is vulnerable to the potential for corruption within its workforce which, if not detected and effectively investigated, could severely undermine its mission.”
The council recommended that CBP increase staff in its Office of Internal Affairs in order to better investigate allegations of corruption.
Several CBP employees and U.S. Border Patrol agents in the El Paso area have been arrested in recent years in connection with attempts to smuggle people across the border.
In 2010, Martha Alicia Garnica, a technician with CBP, pleaded guilty to helping traffickers smuggle drugs and undocumented immigrants into the country. She was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Also in 2010, CBP Officer Ricardo Manuel Cordero was sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling undocumented immigrants and accepting bribes, according to court records.
A former Border Patrol Agent Jesus Miguel Huizar was convicted in 2008 of immigrant smuggling and money-laundering charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
