Feds bust child smuggling ring in Cameron Park (KGBT-TX)

A Cameron Park couple is behind bars after authorities allegedly learned that they were using their home to smuggle children from Central America.

Feds bust child smuggling ring in Cameron Park
by Sergio Chapa
Posted: 07.07.2011 at 5:54 PM

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 28-year-old Donato Alvear, Jr. and 27-year-old Marisol Maldonado on Wednesday.

Court records show that the investigation started when Maldonado tried to smuggle a 6-year-old boy from El Salvador at Brownsville’s Gateway International Bridge.

Maldonado allegedly used an birth certificate and said the boy was her nephew but an investigation by customs officers revealed otherwise.

ICE agents went to Maldonado’s home of Gregory Avenue in Cameron Park where they found another 8-year-old boy from El Salvador and a 10-year-old boy from Honduras.

Alvear, who was identified as Maldonado’s husband, allegedly told investigators that he was supposed to get paid $300 dollars to take the children to Houston.

Both Alvear and Maldonado appeared before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville on Thursday.

Judge Morgan gave both Alvear and Maldonado $20,000 dollars bonds and ordered them to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday.