By Steve Neavling
A former CBP officer was sentenced to just over four years in federal prison for taking bribes to let migrants illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, federal prosecutors said.
Omar Moreno, 46, admitted to accepting $4,000 per person from a smuggling group in exchange for allowing undocumented migrants to enter through the Ysleta port of entry at the Zaragoza Bridge, USA Today reports. Federal investigators believe Moreno helped smuggle roughly 30 people into the country, earning as much as $120,000.
He pleaded guilty to bribery and bringing in noncitizens for financial gain. A federal judge sentenced him to 51 months in prison.
“He tarnished the badge,” John Morales, special agent in charge of the FBI’s El Paso Field Office, said. “He violated his oath and the public’s trust.”
The case began in late 2022, when two migrants told agents they had paid $16,000 to cross the border with help from a CBP officer. They said the officer let them in without inspection after they provided a code word.
A confidential informant later confirmed that a smuggling guide had worked with Moreno for months. In February 2024, federal agents recorded Moreno escorting two migrants through the port. Weeks later, undercover officers posed as migrants in a sting operation that led to his arrest.
