ZCZC
BFF-23
US-MILITARY-MIGRATION-ARREST
Two US Marines arrested for migrant trafficking
LOS ANGELES, July 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two US Marines have been arrested
for smuggling undocumented Mexican migrants into the United States in
exchange for money, according to a court document.
Byron Darnell Law II and David Javier Salazar-Quintero were arrested on
July 3 along the Mexican border in Jacumba, California, the document said.
They were charged with having transported three undocumented migrants about
six miles (10 kilometers) over the border.
The three Mexican nationals seated in the back of the Marines’ vehicle were
prepared to pay $8,000 “to be smuggled into the United States,” although it
is unclear to whom they would have paid the money.
The two Marines, who were stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, have
been accused of “knowingly” transporting the migrants into the US “for the
purpose of… private financial gain,” according to the court document.
During their hearings, both men accused each other of responsibility in the
matter: Law said that Salazar received directions to the pickup location via
a cell phone, while Salazar said that Law originally got him involved with
smuggling. Salazar also said he had made four other smuggling trips to
Jacumba.
Law and Salazar were formally charged Monday, according to The Washington
Post. The office of the attorney general did not respond to AFP’s request for
comment.
“We continue to cooperate fully with the investigative efforts into this
matter,” Marine spokesman First Lieutenant Cameron Edinburgh told Marine
Corps Times.
This is not the first case of US military members helping migrants enter
the US. There were similar instances in 2014, 2017 and last year.
The US Border Patrol apprehended nearly 700,000 people illegally crossing
into the United States from October to June, 140 percent higher than during
the same period a year earlier.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0947 hrs