‘Sick’ girl in SUV leads border officers to alleged migrant child smugglers

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A federal grand jury in El Paso has leveled conspiracy charges against four people whom investigators allege smuggled undocumented children into the United States on multiple occasions.

The charges leveled this month against April Cornejo, Candy Cornejo, Isaac David Cornejo and Brian Chairez stem from a May 8 incident at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry in El Paso.

A black Chevrolet Tahoe with Texas license plates driven by April Cornejo approached a U.S. Customs and Border Protection booth carrying three adults and two children that day. A CBP officer asked whose children were in the vehicle and was able to verify the identity of one, but the occupants told him the other one was sick and could not talk.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas show the SUV and its occupants were sent to a secondary inspection area where border officers determined the second child to be a Mexican teenager illegally attempting to enter the United States and allegedly found a concealed Mexican passport belonging to the teen on April Cornejo during a body search.

In an interview with investigators, April Cornejo allegedly said undisclosed parties paid her $1,200 for every unauthorized minor between the ages of 15 and 17 she was able to cross illegally into the United States. Payment went up to $1,700 for every adult aged 18 to 20, posing as a family member, court documents allege.

April Cornejo allegedly told investigators she would pay Candy Cornejo $250 and Isaac Cornejo and Brian Chairez $150 for accompanying her on the trips to Mexico.

Isaac Cornejo told investigators he had been “assisting” April Cornejo for two months in the smuggling of unauthorized minors and that the purpose of having many people in the vehicle was to appear as a “normal” family to CBP at the port of entry, according to a criminal complaint. He allegedly said he had crossed into the U.S. with April Cornejo “approximately once or twice a week” during that period.

Chairez allegedly told investigators this was the third time he accompanied April Cornejo while transporting minor females across the border. Candy Cornejo allegedly told investigators she was paid on at least one occasion to say the minor undocumented girl was her niece.

The four suspects each face federal counts of conspiracy to bring in and transport illegal aliens for financial gain and actually transporting illegal aliens for financial gain. Federal officials did not immediately say if Candy, April and Isaac Cornejo are related.