Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers arrested a man on Friday near the border in Del Rio, Texas, on suspicion of smuggling a 5-year-old girl into the United States from Mexico.
Texas State Police said troopers stopped a Dodge pickup truck in Del Rio after receiving information that border patrol had caught a man crossing the Rio Grande with his child.
Lt. Chris Olivares, a Texas DPS spokesman, told Fox News that the 5-year-old girl who was brought across the border was placed in another smuggler's vehicle and driven to a hotel.
Officers observed the pickup truck and eventually stopped the truck and conducted a traffic stop.
During the stop, officers learned that the 5-year-old girl was from Mexico and had just been smuggled into the United States.
Officers also matched the image of the girl in the surveillance camera footage with the image of the girl in the pickup truck.
While questioning the girl in Spanish, he noted that the boy was bowing his head, which was also seen on the video recording.
The girl's mother, Dolores Lopez, was also in the truck at the time of the traffic stop.
The mother is a temporary resident of North Carolina and is originally from Mexico, according to Texas DPS.
Lopez told officers she found a smuggling ring on the Internet and agreed to smuggle her daughter into the United States for $8,000.
Police eventually arrested the smuggler, who turned out to be Roman Ibarra Rojo from Mexico. Rojo was charged with smuggling a person under the age of 18.
Texas State Police said Rojo confessed that he intended to receive $1,000 for smuggling the 5-year-old girl into the United States.
Olivares said Rojo was previously arrested on smuggling charges in 2022.
Lopez and her daughter were referred to the U.S. Border Patrol, who recommended that the mother be charged with child endangerment.
It is up to the district attorney to decide whether to prosecute the mother.
