Former ICE contractor pleads guilty to smuggling migrants

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor who smuggled 39 migrants from McAllen to Falfurrias pleaded guilty on Friday.

Nancy Berenisse Fernandez Luna, 35, of Pharr worked for MVM Inc., which transports migrants for ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Fernandez, however, also smuggled migrants through South Texas — using identification provided by ICE.

“Guilty,” Fernandez said Friday morning, when she appeared in federal court.

Nancy Berenisse Fernandez Luna, center wearing a blue sweater, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge on Dec. 6, 2024. (Dave Hendricks / CBS 4 News)

Fernandez was born in Reynosa and became a naturalized United States citizen, according to her attorney, Joseph A. Connors III of McAllen.

At some point, Fernandez started working for MVM.

The company’s transportation specialists provide “secure and humane treatment and service to Unaccompanied Children (UC) and/or families, while accompanying them on domestic or international flights and/or via ground transportation to facilities all over the country,” according to a job description posted by MVM. “During these trips, TS use their language skills to communicate in a way that is culturally sensitive, while fostering a safe and comfortable environment.”

MVM didn’t respond to questions about what position Fernandez held or how long she worked for the company.

Border Patrol arrested Fernandez on Oct. 4, 2024, when a white bus stopped at the federal immigration checkpoint near Falfurrias.

Fernandez claimed all 39 passengers were children who had tested positive for COVID-19. She provided Border Patrol with a manifest and showed agents her ICE contractor identification.

Border Patrol called the Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center to check her story.

While agents waited, “the bus doors closed and the bus departed secondary inspection,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Fernandez. “Agents conducted a traffic stop on the bus and instructed it to return to secondary inspection.”

The centralized processing center, meanwhile, informed Border Patrol it had no record of the bus.

Border Patrol arrested Fernandez and her boyfriend, Juan Torres Ayala, who had driven the bus from McAllen to Falfurrias.

Fernandez had not worked for MVM “in over six months,” according to a statement released by the company. “And is no longer employed by MVM.”

Torres claimed he would be paid $1,800, according to the criminal complaint against him. It’s unclear how much Fernandez expected to make.

“Were you going to be paid?” U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis asked Fernandez on Friday morning, when she appeared in court.

“We never talked about the money,” Fernandez said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Devin V. Walker, who is prosecuting the case, told Alanis the government disagreed with any suggestion that Fernandez didn’t expect compensation.

Fernandez and Torres pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop a smuggling charge against them.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 11. They face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.