EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An El Paso man who used a border tunnel to smuggle migrants into the U.S. and onto a box truck was sentenced to over two years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
On Jan. 10, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol and ICE Homeland Security Investigations officers found a man-made tunnel connecting Juárez and El Paso.
Oscar Ivan Carrillo, 20, and other co-conspirators used handheld tools to create new tunnels that connected to an existing storm drain tunnel to the man-made tunnel, according to court documents obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Carrillo and others would guide migrants through the tunnels and into the U.S. At the exit of the tunnel, a box truck with a trap door at the bottom, drove over a manhole cover. The trap door would then open, allowing the migrants to climb out of the tunnel and into the truck without being detected.
On April 2, 2025, Carrillo was named in a four-count indictment and later arrested on June 10. On Nov. 4, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a border tunnel. On Jan. 28, Carrillo was sentenced in federal court to 33 months in prison.
ICE HSI El Paso acting Special Agent in Charge Taekuk Cho Criminals continue to innovate and exploit our border for profit, putting lives at risk and undermining our nation’s security.
“Through coordinated efforts and strategic partnerships, we are committed to identifying, investigating, and dismantling these dangerous smuggling networks,” he said.
El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jesse D. Muñoz described the tunnel as sophisticated.
“The successful prosecution of one of those responsible, sends a clear message: We will relentlessly pursue those who threaten our border security and bring them to justice,” Muñoz said.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons said Mexican drug cartels and their “alien smuggling organizations” (ASOs) only about the money migrants pay to be smuggled.
“Even after putting their lives at risk by entering the country using the method employed in this case, as well as more dangerous methods, the cartels and their ASOs often extort these illegal aliens by holding them in U.S. stash houses until their family members can pay additional money for their release,” he said. “In the Western District of Texas, in support of our law enforcement partners with U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations, we will always aggressively pursue alien smugglers because doing so hits cartels right where it hurts: in the pocketbook. And weakening Mexican drug cartels makes this country a place where Americans cannot just survive, but thrive.”
ICE HSI and Border Patrol investigated the case.
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