El Paso’s Criminal Border Patrol Agents - El Paso News (2024)

El Paso’s headlines this year suggest that crime across the city is on the rise, especially among the youth. In 2023, 38 murders were reported, with 31 of them being related to drug violence. El Paso’s sister city has also experienced a rise in murders last year. Two weeks ago, a 21-year-old died after a fight in east El Paso. As El Paso continues to make national headlines because of the so-called migrant crisis, a related crime metric that isn’t usually highlighted are the crimes committed by El Paso’s border patrol agents.

The Border Patrol has a well-documented problem of racism within its agency culture. According to a 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Patrol internal report, about nine percent of Border Patrol agents “are engaged in some degree of misconduct.” In 2018, 268 border patrol agents were arrested.

Among the arrests of border patrol agents include crimes of sexual assault, including John Joseph Daly III who was accused of eight cases of sexual assault starting in 1999, through 2001. Daly, a former supervisor at the Border Patrol who was dubbed the “East Valley Serial Rapist” by news media outlets in Arizona, remains in jail today awaiting trial in two Arizona counties: Cochise and Maricopa. According to online records, Daly is in jail awaiting trial on eight criminal charges including kidnapping and sexual assault that are being prosecuted in Maricopa County. He also has similar charges pending in Cochise County.

Daly is not the only border patrol agent accused of serious criminal conduct. In 2017, former Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna was convicted of organized criminal activity after his brother, a Gulf Cartel sicario (hitman) was convicted of capital murder after a headless body was discovered in South Padre Island.

David Ortiz, another border patrol agent, confessed to killing four sex workers in December 2022. After being sentenced to life in prison, Ortiz appealed his conviction. An appeals court rejected his appeal earlier this month.

Daly, Luna and Ortiz are just a small sample of criminals within the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol. Agents with the border patrol have been accused and convicted of crimes ranging from petty crimes to drug trafficking, murder and sexual assault. Among the criminal border patrol agents there are several agents that have been stationed in El Paso.

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History of El Paso Based Agents Arrested

Border Patrol agents based in or around El Paso have a long history of criminal activity going back to the 1970’s. On September 12, 1977, Border Patrol Agent Earl Ray Payne was charged with intentionally hitting Alberto Herrera with his patrol vehicle to arrest him for crossing the border illegally. Herrera, who was on a bicycle, was fleeing Payne. Originally charged by the El Paso County Attorney’s office, the case was moved to federal court a month later. Because the case was removed to federal court, state charges were dismissed. Federal charges were dropped on December 12, 1977.

In 1984, two border patrol agents in El Paso, Charles Kern and Lonnie Wiemers were charged with beating a 12-year-old. Both were also charged with intimidating another border patrol agent, a key witness in their case. The child they beat was a student at Guillen Intermediate School. After seven hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Kern and Weimers of intimidating a fellow agent, but the jury did not find enough evidence to convict them of beating the child. On February 3, 1984, Kern and Wiemers were sentenced to 18 months in jail for intimidating a fellow agent.

On February 1, 1985, nine-year veteran of the Border Patrol, Joe L. Navarrette was arrested on nine charges of conspiring to transporting undocumented migrants for money and of bribing another agent.

Across the nation several other instances of border agents abusing individuals kept cropping up. However, the situation in El Paso drove the city council to act.

City Council Votes To Hold Border Agents Accountable

On December 29, 1992, the city council voted five to one to create the Border Patrol Local Accountability Commission. The commission’s purpose was “to monitor and record alleged U.S. Border Patrol abuses along the El Paso-Juarez border.”

The idea for the commission was presented to city officials by Roberto Rojo, who along with UTEP professor Melvin Strauss, helped draft the ordinance with the help of the city attorney. The establishment of the 15-member commission was opposed by Stan Roberts, the representative for the northeast. Joe Pickett originally opposed the commission but voted to create it.

In 1993, 12 candidates announced they would be running for mayor in the May 1 election. Among the 12 candidates included Rojo and politicians like Larry Francis, Joe Pickett, Carlos Ramirez and Bill Tilney. Francis went on to win the election.

On April 13, 1993, the commission was renamed as the Human Relations Commission and its mandate was expanded to review complaints against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Customs, in addition to the Border Patrol. The vote was four-to-two with Joe Pickett and Stan Roberts voting against the expansion.

At some point after Silvestre Reyes established Operation Blockade, the commission dissolved after its membership expired without reappointments by city council representatives including a vacancy for Larry Francis’ appointment. Operation Blockade later became the Operation Hold the Line.

El Paso Border Patrol Agents Again Make Headlines For Criminal Conduct

By 1994, more El Paso based border patrol agents again began to make criminal headlines. On June 2, 1994, Border Patrol agent John Walter Jennings was arrested on charges of accepting cocaine as a downpayment for a stolen vehicle. Jennings, a nine-year veteran of the Border Patrol, was convicted on June 30, 1994 for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. On August 25, 1995 he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

On June 12, 2001, Border Patrol Agent Juan Martinez was arrested on charges of conspiracy to obstruct the U.S. Customs Service and the Border Patrol’s ability to conduct drug investigations and deporting inadmissible migrants. Martinez was accused of “helping ‘other law enforcement agents and certain informants in importing 8 tons of marijuana’.”

In 2002, Jose E. Villanueva, a three-year veteran of the Border Patrol pleaded guilty to “aiding and abetting illegal entry.” Villanueva was sentenced to one year probation and 100 hours of community service.

In 2006, Border Patrol Agent David Duque, Jr. was arrested and charged with assisting in the smuggling of five kilograms of cocaine and immigrant smuggling.

On July 26, 2007, Border Patrol Agent Pablo Rosario pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the civil rights of two female migrants, a mother and her 15-year-old daughter. Rosario admitted to inappropriately touching the breasts and genitals of both females while arresting them. Rosario was sentenced to two years in prison.

In 2010, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa, Jr. shot and killed 15-year-old Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca. Hernández Güereca was on the Mexican side of the border when Mesa shot and killed him. Mesa said that he killed the 15-year-old because he threw rocks at him while Mesa was detaining another child on the El Paso side of the border.

The Justice Department did not charge Mesa after it concluded that there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges. The parents of Güereca Hernández filed a civil suit against Mesa, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hernandez v. Mesa that because Güereca Hernández was on Mexican soil when her killed by the agent on U.S. soil, he was not entitled to protection under the constitution.

The Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos Case

Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation on March 4, 2005 after receiving information that a Border Patrol agent had shot an individual in El Paso on February 17, 2005, according to the OIG report of the incident.

Two Border Patrol Agents were identified as being involved in the shooting incident. Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos were arrested and found guilty on several federal charges on March 8, 2006. On October 19, 2006, Judge Kathleen Cardone sentenced Compean to 12 years in prison and Ramos to 11 years plus a 1 day. On October 26, 2006, the Border Patrol initiated removal proceedings for both.

In 2009, George W. Bush commuted the sentences of Compean and Ramos but left their convictions in place. Compean and Ramos were released about two years into their sentences. On December 20, 2020, Donald Trump pardoned Compean and Ramos.

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More El Paso Cases

On May 26, 2016, former Border Patrol supervisor, Lawrence Madrid was found guilty on charges of smuggling migrants and of accepting bribes. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in September 2016.

On October 20, 2019, Border Patrol Agent Miguel Delgado, Jr. allegedly assaulted a migrant at the Bridge of the Americas, according to a March 8, 2024 indictment. The indictment also alleges that Delgado, an agent for 17 years, also allegedly assaulted another migrant at the bridge on June 15, 2020. The indictment alleges that Delgado also made false statements to officials. Delgado was arrested and booked on March 9.

In June 2023, Border Patrol Agent Fernando Castillo offered to help two migrants with false papers in return for a $5,000 bribe. On February 1, 2024, Castillo pleaded guilty and on May 9, 2024, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Opportunity Center assault

In January, an unidentified border patrol agent was caught on video assaulting a migrant in front of the Opportunity Center, a homeless shelter. After the January 7 incident, border patrol officials said they would investigate the incident. The results of the investigation by the border patrol agent have not been released by officials. Just two days before the El Paso incident, an off-duty patrol agent, Edgar Fidel Garcia, was arrested by Laredo Police in an ongoing sexual assault investigation.

More Arrests In 2024

The following month, another border patrol agent, Juan Francisco Perez was arrested in Uvalde after hitting a school crossing guard in front of an elementary school. Perez was charged with driving while intoxicated.

In El Paso, earlier this month, another border patrol agent from El Paso, Fernando Castillo, was sentenced on a bribery case to 18 months in prison. Castillo accepted a $5,000 bribe in exchange for falsifying documents to allow a migrant to remain in the United States.

Although federal officials provide an online dashboard detailing assaults on Border Patrol agents, when it comes to providing detailed statistics of its agents committing crimes, the agency is not as transparent with the public.

Much of the information about abusive border patrol agents comes from privately collected information from public sources. Since 2010, 304 people have died after encountering federal agents. In 2021, 58 people died after an encounter with a border agent, making 2021 the worst year for encounters with border agents. In 2022, there were 51 deaths reported and in 2023, 43 people died after encountering a border official. This year, 8 people have been reported to have died after encountering a border patrol official.

Texas has had the highest number of deaths.

Between 2014 and 2021, 2,010 Custom and Border Patrol employees have been arrested one or multiple times in seven years.

El Paso, in particular, makes headlines because of the so-called migrant crisis. Local officials publicly support immigration reform. In 1992, the city council formed a commission to investigate border patrol agents for their conduct against residents in El Paso. The commission mysteriously disappeared after Silvestre Reyes implemented his border blockade. Today’s city officials have not shown an interest in re-establishing the commission holding local border patrol agents accountable to El Pasoans.

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