Authorities announced on Monday that a former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who was employed at a port of entry in Texas entered a guilty plea after being charged with smuggling migrants into the country and collecting bribes to permit the admission of what he believed to be cocaine.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a statement that Emanuel Isac Celedon, 36, of Laredo, worked at the Lincoln Juarez Port of Entry, where prosecutors claimed he informed smugglers in advance of the lane he was assigned to and allowed them through without inspection or passenger documentation at least nine times between September and November 2023.
Prosecutors claimed that Celedon lied in a CBP database on at least two of these instances in order to prevent the driver from being sent for a required secondary examination.
Celedon was found to have asked others to inform Mexican traffickers about his involvement in the human smuggling operation and reassure them that he was “doing his part,” according to the prosecution.
At the time of his arrest, Celedon had $1,980 in cash on him, which he said was money for smuggling people.
According to the statement, Celedon had consented to smuggle what he thought to be kilograms of cocaine from Mexico twice in October 2023 using his designated lane at the Laredo Port of Entry. This was in connection with a different drug investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office claims Celedon expressed interest in bringing cocaine into the country in exchange for money when he was ensnared in an undercover operation. In order to enable some cars to pass safely, he gave his duty schedule and instructed other drivers to move into his lane.
According to the prosecution, Celedon received $6,000 after the cars containing phony cocaine passed the port of entry.
Celedon, in addition to the bribery and narcotics allegations, faces up to 80 years in prison for the four counts of introducing an unauthorized alien into the United States.
