2 US Army soldiers plead guilty in Southeast Texas federal court to human smuggling

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers based at the Fort Bliss U.S. Army installation pleaded guilty Tuesday to smuggling two illegal aliens through a U.S. Border Patrol (BP) checkpoint in South Texas.

These guilty pleas were announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas, along with Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Marco Antonio Nava Jr., 19, and Joseph Edmond Cleveland, 25, both from El Paso, Texas, admitted they smuggled two illegal aliens through the Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. They claimed that they were approached by a man who offered to give them $1,500 if they drove more than 700 miles southeast to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to drive two illegal aliens through the checkpoint. On June 19, the defendants approached the checkpoint with the two illegal aliens in the rear passenger seats of the vehicle. A Border Patrol agent asked one of the passengers if he had documents to be in the United States legally to which he said no. Both passengers were ultimately found to be aliens unlawfully present in the U.S. and taken into custody.

Upon questioning, both illegal aliens stated they crossed into the United States eight days beforehand, and they had been moved to two different trailer homes. On the day of their arrest, they were told by a person in the trailer home that someone was going to come to pick them up and take them to Houston. Nava was driving and told them to get into the vehicle. Once inside, the illegal aliens were told they were going to go through an immigration checkpoint and were coached as what to answer to the agent's questions at the checkpoint.

Nava and Cleveland each face up to 10 years in federal prison. They were permitted to remain on bond pending sentencing, which is set for Feb. 9, 2017.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Miller, Southern District of Texas, is prosecuting this case.