(José Niño, Headline USA) A 29-year-old Mexican national, Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez, admitted guilt in an El Paso federal court to a charge of conspiring to smuggle migrants into the country, according to a Justice Department announcement released last Friday. Prosecutors say he teamed up with several accomplices to funnel people through a covert underground route linking Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva denounced the plot, saying the defendant “demonstrated a total disregard for our nation’s laws by conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States through a tunnel that ran from Mexico under the U.S. border into Texas”. He warned that “smugglers will stop at nothing to move illegal aliens into the United States for profit,” and stressed the department “is sending a clear message that those who undermine the integrity of our borders will be investigated and prosecuted”.
Authorities uncovered the sophisticated passage back in January 2025. Recorded phone conversations show Davalos-Lopez negotiating fees as high as $30,000 per person for illegal passage, along with talk of migrant counts and pricing structures. FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Coult W. Markovsky explained the tunnel had been “constructed by the foreign terrorist organization, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion” to move “humans, drugs, and firearms”.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons pointed to the operation’s reach on both sides of the border, noting members “smuggled drugs and illegal aliens into the U.S. while also trafficking firearms into Mexico”. He called the guilty plea “another nail in the coffin for these transnational criminal organizations”. Davalos-Lopez and his co-defendants faced indictment in April 2025, and Mexico later handed him over to U.S. authorities under its National Security Law.
He now confronts a possible ten year sentence, with a hearing date still pending. Co-defendant Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, 40, already pleaded guilty to arming CJNG through firearms trafficking, and Gustavo Castro-Medina, 29, admitted wiring $3,000 to fund an illegal gun purchase.
The prosecution falls under Joint Task Force Alpha, credited in the release with over 482 arrests and 433 convictions against smuggling networks so far. ATF Director Rob Cekada added that “criminals who traffic human beings and firearms are exactly the individuals ATF works every day to stop.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
