EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A man who allegedly told investigators he supervised a home on behalf of migrant smugglers because he needed money to pay for his mom’s surgery is now facing federal charges.
U.S. Border Patrol agents last week arrested Omar Eduardo Roman Castorena after he admitted to being in the country illegally and caring for 14 unauthorized migrants at a home on the 100 block of North Collinsworth Street in El Paso, court documents show.
The alleged migrant stash house is within walking distance of an elementary school on Alameda Avenue.
Roman allegedly told the arresting agents he made a deal with the man who smuggled him into the United States. It consisted of having him pick up unauthorized migrants near the border wall and not let anyone leave the stash house, according to court documents.
The man allegedly said he saw between 50 to 70 migrants whom he knew to be in the country illegally come and go from his home, and that his job “was to take care” of them.
The defendant stated he agreed to work for the unnamed smuggler “because he needed money to pay for his mother’s surgery,” the court documents stay.
Roman is facing charges in U.S. District Court in El Paso related to knowingly harboring and concealing unauthorized migrants.
According to the American Immigration Council, Border Patrol or U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers may question the immigration status of those they reasonably believe are in the country illegally.
These agents and officers can arrest without a warrant a noncitizen who enters or is trying to enter the country illegally, according to an AIC fact sheet, and others they come across in the performance of their duties if they have probable cause to suspect are breaking federal laws.
