Betrayal on the border

AP/Fox News:

Texas — A trio of National Guard soldiers assigned to help stop illegal immigration in South Texas instead ran an immigrant smuggling operation using cell phone text messages, according to court records filed Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Laredo.

In a series of text messages uncovered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres was arrested on Thursday, the three soldiers allegedly negotiated the details, price and number of people who would be smuggled north, the complaint said.

"tell them ill only do 1 run @ no more than 20 people @ $150 a person and i want 2 leave @ 1930 hrs and ill go 2 San Anto if they want," Torres typed to Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr. hours before Torres was arrested along Interstate 35 near Cotulla, Texas, about 68 miles north of the border, according to the complaint.

A message later that day from Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco instructed Torres that a trip was a go, with a promised payment of $3,500 for the delivery of 24 illegal immigrants.

"24 will b tuff 2 fit but ill try," Torres wrote in response, the complaint said.

The 24 immigrants, at least five of whom were Mexican nationals, did fit in the van that was waved through a Border Patrol checkpoint before later being stopped along the highway.

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All three soldiers, who were arraigned Monday in Laredo on charges of conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants, are assigned to border duties as part of Operation Jumpstart, President Bush's initiative to place Guard troops at the border to help local and federal authorities with immigration enforcement. All the soldiers are volunteers.

Pacheco has been accused of recruiting soldiers to transport the migrants for $1,000 to $3,500 a trip. He and Hodge were arrested Friday.

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This kind of betrayal deserves a harsh sentence if proven. It is not clear whether they will be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or in the federal courts. If the latter, they will be in the jurisdiction of Johnny Sutton who has become notorious for prosecuting border agents.

A border agent who was engaged in smuggling of aliens recently was sentenced to 16 months in prison.