by Mike Donoghue
BURLINGTON – An illegal immigrant from Mexico, who has been caught more than a dozen times unlawfully in the United States, has been arrested again after he returned to help guide another handful of undocumented persons into Vermont, federal court records show.
Raymundo Garcia-Flores, 38, is facing a new charge of reentry by a deported alien into Franklin County, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
The multiple crossings are part an unprecedented number of illegal crossings in recent months. In just the last two months (Oct. & Nov.), Swanton Sector (part of NY, VT, NH) Border Patrol Agents have apprehended 1,850 subjects from 43 different countries, surpassing the number of apprehensions in Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 & 2022 combined.
The U.S. Border Patrol said their agents intercepted Garcia-Flores as he served as a human smuggling guide for four non-citizens entering rural Berkshire without legal authorization from Canada on Jan. 24.
Garcia-Flores reported it was his fourth time recently guiding illegal immigrants into the United States and he had brought nine undocumented aliens during the three earlier operations, the Border Patrol said in court papers.
He said he is paid $1,000 per illegal immigrant that he guides into the United States.
Garcia-Flores “was previously apprehended by immigration agencies on approximately 13 prior occasions…” Border Patrol Agent Michael A. Jones said in a court affidavit. The apprehensions began in 2005.
Most times Garcia-Flores appeared to be part of the controversial “Catch-and-Release” immigration program and was sent back to Mexico immediately with no consequences after his apprehension. Two times he received prison sentences and was deported, but each time he soon returned.
It is just the latest arrest along the Vermont border, which was seeing an average of about 100 illegal entries a day into the state last summer according to Customs and Border Protection statistics.
Investigation into the latest case revealed Garcia-Flores was illegally in the United States and that he crossed briefly into Canada to meet the group he planned to smuggle into Vermont, records show. He then illegally entered the United States again with the group and none of them reporting to an inspection station as required, court records note.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington has asked a magistrate judge to detain Garcia-Flores pending his criminal trial because he is a serious risk to flee.
“The defendant’s role as a foot guide for a smuggling organization indicates he has knowledge and ability to cross the Canadian border without inspection and abscond,” prosecutor Nicole Cate wrote in a detention motion.
“The strength of the evidence against the defendant is very strong,” Cate said.
Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle, during a brief court hearing on Friday, ordered Garcia-Flores detained until the hearing can resume on Tuesday for the government’s detention motion.
Jones said he was on routine patrol in Franklin County about 1 p.m. Jan. 24 when he noticed fresh footprints in the snow heading north toward the international border near Ayers Hill Road in Berkshire. Jones said the Border Patrol was aware of increased illegal crossings throughout 2023 along the dirt road, which is about 3,000 feet from the international border.
Jones said it was common for human smuggling foot guides to head north into Canada to meet the groups they were planning to lead across the border.
The Border Patrol said an electronic sensor detected a group of about 5 people were southbound from the international border about 3:15 p.m. It was just north of where Jones had seen the footprints.
Four other Border Patrol agents responded to the area to help search for the people, Jones said. Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Thomas Blaser and Border Patrol Agent Kevin O’Dowd spotted several people running into a wooded area south of Ayers Hill Road, Jones said.
Blaser and O’Dowd gave chase and eventually apprehended Garcia-Flores and three other people, records show. Border Patrol Agent Nikita Ostashez spotted the fifth person in the brush on the north side of Ayers Hill Road, records note.
The five were taken to the Border Patrol station in Richford, where they were fingerprinted, and checks were made in databases to learn about their immigration history.
The four illegal immigrants were believed released without charges.
Due to his past record, Garcia-Flores was lodged by the Border Patrol at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans on the federal immigration charge pending the federal court hearing.
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. visited the international border near Swanton and chatted with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers as they continue to fight the unprecedented flood of illegal immigrants into Vermont.
The highest monthly peak in Vermont hit in August 2023 when 2,992 unauthorized crossings were intercepted, the CBP reported. It edged September 2023 when 2,984 illegal immigrants were nabbed coming into Vermont, records show.
Customs and Border Protection officials reported 22,798 unapproved individuals were intercepted unlawfully entering Vermont during 12-month period ending September 2023.
This compares to 9,934 detected illegal crossings in Vermont for the year ending September 2022, CBP reported.
The year before there were 4,249 individuals caught unlawfully entering the Green Mountain State, the CBP said.
Categories: Crime
George Conway, who assisted E. Jean Carroll, now has a price on his head.
Roger Stone, presumptive Secretary of Assassinations and Torture, is already planning his demise.
No more illegal aliens. Close up the border.
No such thing as “close up the border.” That is an impossible task, and any politician selling you that idea is a liar. The only fix is to stop all welfare spending. Replace welfare with private insurance and charity. Arrest and jail all the ABC agencies/workers that are colluding with the cartels. How many times are they caught and no one goes to prison? Is there justice? Work on that.
Anyone who is deported for criminal reasons and is apprehended after a re-entry to the US should spend the rest of their natural life in a federal prison. As a taxpayer, I am willing to pay to have this policy printed up in every foreign language and placed on billboards so there can be no misunderstanding about it. Threatening someone who repeatedly violates our border laws simply with deportation is obviously a joke.
Perhaps if the 22,798 “border crossers” were to remain in Vermont- specifically in Chittenden, Washington, Windham and Orange counties- Vermont’s apathetic voters might realize the impact other states are seeing because of the unwillingness to uphold immigration and illegal entry laws. Perhaps if Vermont’s taxpayers were required to fork over just 1/2 of the cost for processing, housing feeding and medical care for these people- similarly to what’s provided for Vermont’s growing homeless population- there might just be some action in Montpelier this session. New York allegedly spent 12 Billion dollars for illegal immigrants in 2023- including payments of $16,000 per NYS Assembly’s “Excluded Worker program”.
If all of the income (not tax, but entire income) of all Vermont’s workers were collected- 100% of it- it would not be enough money to provide the services to these 22798 border jumpers that they demand- and liberals willingly provide.
Your much vaunted freshman senator, peter welch has no ability to fix this mess-
not that he would want to.
With the presidential election a few months off, Sleepy Joe has suddenly become aware of this issue and of course is blaming everyone and anyone that he can think of as the cause of the problem ( he needs only look in a mirror )
According to information obtained by the DHS and as reported in a NY Times article, many illegal aliens are paying total sums of up to and even above $10,000 per person for a “coyote” or smuggler to accompany them unlawfully from their nation of origin into our sovereign nation. Most pay all or part of the sum, and any “balance” remaining is paid through human trafficking means via the transport of drugs into the USA or via sexual slavery either along the perilous route or thereafter. All this is being executed with the full knowledge and facilitation of the current administration under the POTUS, i.e.: Barack Hussein Obama.
After handing over such large amounts of money and/or violating federal laws to gain access, most are then automatically gifted no-cost (to THEM, not us) housing, food, and healthcare to remain and liberally travel within our states, paid for in full by each & every taxpayer.
To this end, approximately FORTY percent of Americans (higher in Vermont specifically, but of course) are ready & able to pull the lever for Joe Biden yet again – or without reservation immediately latch onto whoever the actual DNC nominee will likely be before election ’24, which will probably be either Obama’s fourth term via Mitchell Obama, or the Golden State destroyer himself Gavin Newsom. Like lemmings to their death…………….
what ever happened to the u. s. constitution to repel invasion/// the military should be on our borders now///
$1,000. per customer! WOW! I hope the IRS has him in their sights!
Is the State of Vermont Tax Department collecting the required income tax from coyotes and drug dealers? What about sales tax for purchased adults and children and internet gross receipts from dealing child porn? I demand they focus their attention immediately on this lost revenue and go after these non-compliant tax evaders. Above all, do not spare the pentalities and fines for those who neglected to file!
No need to pay taxes, just ask Hunter Biden.
or trump
The whole world is laughing at the prospect of the Border Patrol in a firefight with the Texas National Guard.
If a Texas Ranger kills a Border Patrol agent, would he be eligible for the Federal death penalty?
No, no. See – the federal death penalty is for traitors who violate federal law & undermine the Constitution, NOT for obeyance to federal law & the Constitution….no wonder confusion reigns when you enter that ballot box!!!
So Border Patrol agents are traitors?
$1000 for the coyote and at least $4000 back to the cartel to bolster more fentanyl and human trafficking into the U.S. ….Great. Y’all should read about how Guatemalans and Salvadorans stop and work in Mexico at the resorts to save up for this. Yet for some reason they can’t apply for asylum there…. Trump knew the asylum loophole game. That’s why “Remain in Mexico” was put in place- and worked. 200-500 TOTAL encounters per WEEK for the entire southern border by his last month in office.
amerikans sure are in a hurry to throw away something that took them 250 years to build.
“So Border Patrol agents are traitors”? Try reading the response from me once more, as your retort makes zero sense.
School Daze in White Plains must be full of propaganda and focus on English, math, & science is a very low priority.
Bill from WP tends to go a bit overboard in his shotgun responses’
You’d be singing a different tune if those ILLEGAL border crossers ended up living in your neighborhood. No vetting, paying the cartel a fee, the list of wrongful behavior here goes on and on.
I think just the opposite; most of “Bill’s” posts are nonsensical. But then again, virtually no one aligned with the democrat party makes any sense anymore.
This has broken our laws a known 13 times and he’s still walking around, why isn’t he sitting in a Federal Pen…………………….. Oh yeah, Liberal in charge or lack thereof !!!
Wake up people, it is not too late.
Michael, you misunderstood my comment to Bill of White Plains, just the opposite actually all for enforcing the laws and keeping the asylum seekers in Mexico while looking at their claims for asylum, priority number one in the November election will be the massive number of illegal aliens pouring into our country, hence the White House after three plus years deciding that yes Houston we have a problem.
classic run on sentence……
Posters generally aren’t concerned about run-on sentences on VDC. Instead, they’re concerned about the total destruction of the US caused by radicalized democrat party ideologies & their subsequently implemented policies.