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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Crime & Justice

Mexican man admits conspiracy to smuggle migrants through cartel-linked tunnel into US

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement Outcome reported
  • Luis Carlos Dávalos-López pleaded guilty in federal court in Texas to conspiring to smuggle migrants through a tunnel between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.
  • Authorities said intercepted calls discussed migrant numbers and payments of more than $30,000 to use the tunnel, which was discovered in January of the previous year.
  • The FBI said the tunnel, built by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was also used to traffic drugs and weapons.

A 29-year-old Mexican man has admitted conspiring to move undocumented migrants into the United States through an underground tunnel linking Ciudad Juárez with El Paso, Texas.

Luis Carlos Dávalos-López entered the guilty plea in federal court in Texas to one count of conspiracy to traffic migrants through the passageway. Federal authorities focused on him after intercepting phone calls between Dávalos-López and others discussing migrant traffic through the tunnel.

In several conversations, Dávalos-López referred specifically to the tunnel and discussed how many migrants crossed it and what they paid to use it. According to a Justice Department statement, the calls included references to charges exceeding $30,000 for migrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Dávalos-López and other defendants in the case were arrested in Mexico in April 2025 and later extradited to the United States. The tunnel was discovered in January of the previous year.

Coult W. Markovsky, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's El Paso office, said the tunnel had been built by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and used to traffic migrants, drugs and weapons. “The discovery of this tunnel and the subsequent convictions of those involved in this operation underscore the FBI's ongoing commitment, together with our partners, to dismantling human trafficking carried out by the CJNG,” Markovsky said.

The discovery of this tunnel and the subsequent convictions of those involved in this operation underscore the FBI's ongoing commitment, together with our partners, to dismantling human trafficking carried out by the CJNG.

· Coult W. MarkovskyThe acting FBI official in El Paso described the significance of the investigation and prosecutions.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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