Alamo truck driver sentenced for smuggling immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — An Alamo resident has been ordered to federal prison for smuggling immigrants into the United States.

Eusebio Cavazos,34, has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

At his hearing, it was revealed that Cavazos had smuggled 25 illegally present immigrants into the United States.

The court heard about his recklessness when allegedly locking the migrants in the back of a cold trailer with no way to escape from the inside. He also transported minors and used his skills as a truck driver to transport the people.

In handing down the sentence, the judge noted that he would have imposed a higher sentence if not for the statutory maximum of 60 months.

In February Cavazos pleaded guilty to smuggling 36 immigrants in the back of a tractor-trailer, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As previously reported by ValleyCentral, Cavazos was stopped by immigration officials on Dec. 13, 2024, after he drove a tractor-trailer into the primary inspection lane at the Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita in Kenedy County, Texas.

A canine unit flagged the truck and it was sent to secondary inspection where officials say they discovered 36 undocumented immigrants inside the trailer, which was not carrying anything else.

Cavazos told authorities he was hired to drive the immigrants inside the truck from a point near the South Texas town of Donna to Houston. He was allegedly promised $1,000 per person.