A man from Edinburg, Texas, has been found guilty of unlawfully transporting an undocumented alien. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani following a brief trial in Corpus Christi.
Lisandro Vasquez-Gomez, 26, was convicted after the jury deliberated for an hour and a half. The incident occurred on August 29, 2024, when Vasquez-Gomez drove to the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint claiming he was hauling an empty trailer to Houston and denied having passengers. However, a K-9 unit detected people hidden in the cab of his tractor-trailer.
During the trial, some of those being transported testified that they were taken to a remote area where they boarded a tractor-trailer without seeing the driver before it started moving.
The defense argued that authorities did not thoroughly investigate and suggested Vasquez-Gomez was merely transporting a decoy load. These claims were rejected by the jury who found him guilty on all three counts.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos presided over the trial and scheduled sentencing for April 8. Vasquez-Gomez could face up to five years in federal prison but is allowed to remain on bond until then.
The investigation was conducted by Customs and Border Protection with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Overman, Ashley A. Pruitt, and Liesel Roscher prosecuting the case.