A woman claimed she was about to have sex with her boyfriend in a car when a pack of illegal immigrants rushed into her vehicle and demanded they drive.
Jackie Nichole Hall and John Christopher Ramirez were charged with conspiracy to transport illegal migrants earlier this month after they were allegedly caught driving with migrants in their car in the Big Bend, Texas, area, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Hall was additionally charged with felony assault on a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officer.
The charges stem from an incident on July 7, when cameras spotted a red Kia sedan driving near the Mexican border west of Presidio, Texas, in an area that is known as “one of the most notorious smuggling routes,” according to a complaint affidavit filed in the Western District Court of Texas. Border Patrol conducted a vehicle stop in order to perform an immigration check on all the occupants inside.
As soon as the vehicle stopped, five individuals were observed rushing out of the vehicle, according to the complaint. The Border Patrol agent identified the driver and the front seat passenger — Ramirez and Hall, respectively — as U.S. citizens and transported them both to the Presidio Border Patrol Station for further investigation.
During her testimony to federal agents, Hall denied she was intentionally smuggling migrants and was just trying to “observe the sunset” and have an intimate moment with Ramirez.
“We were gonna drive in a little ways and fool around,” Hall said when asked where in the Big Bend area she was going to watch the sunset, according to court documents. When asked about why they would partake in sexual activity off of a highway with limited privacy, she stated, “Sometimes people like a little danger.”
It was at this time, when they were allegedly about to fool around, that “several people appeared from the nowhere, opened the doors to the Kia and entered the vehicle, and instructed Ramirez to ‘drive,’” according to claims made by Hall in the court documents. Fearing for their safety, Ramirez and Hall allegedly adhered to the group’s demands.
However, Ramirez gave a different account of what happened in his own testimony.
Ramirez admitted that he and Hall drove from Odessa, Texas, to Presidio in order to smuggle illegal migrants, according to court documents. This was going to be, according to him, the fourth time Hall and he transported illegal migrants in the Big Bend area.
Hall had initially given an HSI agent consent to inspect her cell phone. After the agent discovered a contact named “Boss,” she claimed it was simply a nickname for her cousin, and at the end of the interview, she “aggressively” tried to reach out and take the phone back, allegedly physically assaulting the officer in the process.
State authorities in Texas, along with a slate of other GOP-led states, are trying to control illegal immigration in the face of, what they say, is White House inaction amid a crisis.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year signed into law a bill that permits state and local authorities to arrest foreign nationals living in the U.S. unlawfully. However, that law is on hold as the Biden administration attempts to strike it down in the courtroom, claiming the issue is solely under the authority of the federal government.
Featured image credit. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
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