A Brownsville woman is behind bars under bribery and immigrant smuggling charges following an undercover operation.
U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Sandra Cecilia Guajardo on federal charges on Friday.
The 49-year-old Brownsville woman is accused of paying an undercover customs officer to let illegal immigrants through his lane.
A car filled with five illegal immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador went through his lane on April 8th.
Court records filed in Guajardo’s case show she paid a total of $2,500 dollars to let them go through.
Authorities intercepted the car filled with immigrants and allowed Guajardo to make another transaction.
On Friday, another car with two smugglers and five illegal immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador went through the undercover custom officer’s lane.
The immigrants and the smugglers were detained.
Guajardo appeared before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville on Monday morning.
Public records show her last known address at an apartment complex off Barnard Road in north central Brownsville.
Judge Morgan denied bond for Guajardo until a Thursday afternoon hearing.
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