Feds Charge Truckers in 53-Migrant Smuggling Bust in Texas
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said it filed 237 new immigration and immigration-related cases from Oct. 31 through Nov. 5. U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said charges covered alien smuggling and illegal re-entry, some tied to defendants with prior DWI, theft and violent-crime convictions.
Among the cases, two U.S. citizens and a Mexican national face smuggling charges after agents interdicted a tractor-trailer carrying 53 migrants in El Paso. According to the office, Horizon Police Department officers stopped a semi-truck driven by Miguel Angel Debruhl on Oct. 28; Border Patrol agents inspecting the cab found a backpack with numerous cell phones. A second semi-truck, driven by Alan Montelongo, was stopped separately by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper. A criminal complaint alleges Montelongo consented to a trailer inspection that turned up 53 migrants, and that he had agreed to move them through a Las Cruces checkpoint for about $16,000 split with Debruhl. A third defendant, Abel Delval-Dominguez, was arrested after surveillance tied him to a suspected stash house.
All defendants are presumed innocent. The office said the cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative targeting illegal immigration and smuggling networks.
What's next
- Watch for arraignment and complaint filings in the Debruhl, Montelongo and Delval-Dominguez cases.
- No new rule or deadline announced; monitor for weekly case-count updates from the Western District of Texas.
All sources
- Over 235 New Federal Immigration Cases Filed in Western District of Texas — U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas), 2026-11-06
