In yet another story that demonstrates just how deeply illegal-alien criminals or their allies have penetrated the U.S. military, a federal judge sentenced a third soldier to prison for human trafficking.
Enrique Jauregui, 26, will go to prison for almost three years and pay a hefty fine for his crimes. Two co-defendants were sentenced in May. All were stationed at Fort Hood in Texas.
The sentencing follows the arrest in April of 114 illegal aliens at an unlawful nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where soldiers from nearby Fort Carson provided security.
Jauregui “organized a smuggling event in 2024, recruiting fellow soldiers Angel Palma, 21, and Emilio Mendoza-Lopez, 22,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported:
Jauregui provided Palma and Mendoza-Lopez with the location information to pick up illegal aliens to smuggle, supported them with encouraging messages and instructions, and intended to pay the two co-conspirators after they dropped off the illegal aliens.
Last year, on November 27, Palma and Mendoza-Lopez drove for some eight hours to pick up three illegals in Presidio, Texas, a border town due west of San Antonio. The smugglers led Border Patrol agents on a high-speed chase and crashed into a Border Patrol vehicle, which injured the agent driving it.
The two smugglers and three illegals fled. Agents captured all but Palma, whom they later tracked to a hotel in Odessa and arrested.
In March, Jauregui and Palma pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain. Mendoza-Lopez pleaded guilty to the same charge in January. Sentenced on May 24, Palma and Mendoza-Lopez landed 24 months in prison with three years supervised release. Jauregui will serve 33 months and cough up $10,000.
In April, federal agents raided the illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs and arrested 114 illegals, along with unlawful guns and drugs.
Criminal activities at the club included prostitution, drug trafficking, and violent crimes. As well, active-duty soldiers from Fort Carson were either patrons or providing security — with guns. The club’s customers included members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua terror gangs. Agents seized cocaine and methamphetamine, which means the soldiers provided security for drug-dealing terrorists.
Involved in that raid were Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and other federal agencies.
The stories raise the question of how deeply illegal-alien criminals or their sympathizers have penetrated the military.
Illegals have also attempt to enter military bases.
On Tuesday, a federal judge found Ecuadorian illegal Dario Javier Trejo-Burbano guilty of attempting to enter the restricted National Defense Area at the southwest border. He entered the country illegally on May 8.
Two such defense areas were created pursuant to President Trump’s national security memorandum that gave the Defense Department jurisdiction over all public lands in the Roosevelt Reservation, excluding Indian reservations.
In May of last year, two Jordanian illegals attempted to enter the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia. A source told the Potomac Local News that one of them was on the terror watchlist. They were under the guise of an Amazon delivery, and ignored orders from base security to stop, the website reported.
In November, the Biden Justice Department dismissed misdemeanor charges against the two. Biden immigration authorities then freed the two. ICE caught one in March; the other remains at large, and ICE seeks the public’s help in locating him.
In March of last year, a Chinese national without identification attempted to breach the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms. Citing a deleted X post from Gregory Bovino, chief of the El Centro, California, Border Sector, the Marine Corps Times reported that the culprit was an illegal.
Chinese nationals frequently attempt to enter military bases illegally.