By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Migrant Justice leader in Burlington, who was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in Richford last month, is part of an ongoing criminal investigation into smuggling of illegal immigrants into Northern Vermont, according to newly filed records in federal court.

Migrant Justice had claimed Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz, 29, of Milton, along with his stepdaughter, Heidi Perez Alfaro, 18, a recent Milton High graduate, had been delivering meals to farm workers in Richford when they were stopped about noon June 14 by the Border Patrol.

Now a sworn affidavit from a veteran Border Patrol Agent elaborates on the legal justification for the stop, including De La Cruz being linked to possible smuggling efforts. The 18-page affidavit includes details about an incident that netted six arrests in Richford in April by the Border Patrol.

The affidavit also notes De La Cruz was removed from the United States in 2022 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Del Rio, Texas. The specific details are limited due to COVID procedures when the Border Patrol was told to “catch-and-release” with as little human interaction as possible.

Court records note De La Cruz had re-entered the United States within a month of his removal. He has a 3-year-old child, who is a U.S. citizen, according to a court filing on his behalf.

De La Cruz and Perez Alfaro, who are both Mexicans, have no legal status in the United States and been active with Migrant Justice, records show. Migrant Justice, a non-profit advocacy group, has argued they were detained for no known reason.

The U.S. Border Patrol now says otherwise and provides some specifics.

The cell phone seized from De La Cruz during the traffic stop in Richford has the same phone number used during a smuggling event April 9 to April 11, the Border Patrol said in court records. The cell phone number was used to facilitate transportation for at least one alien smuggled into the United States during the April case, records show.

Six illegal immigrants — two from Mexico, two from Venezuela and two from Ecuador — were apprehended during the April incident. At least four were held for three days before pleading guilty in criminal court. The four were sentenced to time served and eventually deported.

The Ecuadorian couple, who were operating the minivan in April, were identified as Manuel Rolando Meza-Cambo and a female co-worker listed as “D.C.C.C.” in court papers. They both admitted they were in the country illegally and were living in Albany, N.Y., records show.

Meza-Cambo, 35, has struck a deal with the prosecution and is expected to plead guilty next month to bringing in and harboring illegal aliens, records show. It is unclear from federal court records what happened to his assistant in the smuggling operation.

De La Cruz is jailed at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town, while Perez Alfaro is held at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. A judge has ordered them held in Vermont until their removal cases are resolved in court.

De La Cruz and Perez Alfaro are both due to have hearings in U.S. District Court in Burlington in early July.

Burlington Attorney Brett Stokes, who represents both, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher declined comment on the case.

De La Cruz is a former dairy worker turned construction worker who helped launch Migrant Justice’s “Milk With Dignity” campaign. Perez Alfaro, who has been in the country two years, has led marches and spoken at rallies for “Milk WIth Dignity.”

A longtime Border Patrol Agent, who was on duty in June in the Richford area, said the movements by De La Cruz’s van were suspicious and the conduct of the two occupants was dubious for a rural area with only a small number of residences and farms.

The nearby terrain is good for both smuggling aliens and avoiding detection, while also serving as a waiting area for past illegal border crossings, the agent noted.

“During one of these previous events, an alien smuggler used a large passenger van to pick up migrants after they had crossed illegally into the United States,” the affidavit said.

The Border Patrol has asked a federal judge to allow for a complete forensic examination of De La Cruz’s cell phone to find more evidence of a conspiracy for human smuggling and illegal entry, court records note.

A 33 year-old Mexican woman, who was among the six intercepted by the Border Patrol during an alien smuggling event on April 19 in Richford, had consented at the time to a search of the contents in her cell phone, records show. She had ties to De La Cruz, the affidavit said.

The illegal immigrant from Mexico had been living in Canada and left Montreal the night of April 18 and enter the United States through the woods on foot, records show.

The woman said she did not seek permission to enter at a lawful entry point, that she paid somebody in Canada to help her and that she expected to pay a driver more money once she was picked up in the United States, court records show.

Three days after she was caught, she was among the four aliens that pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to illegal entry by an unlawful immigrant and was sentenced to time served by Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle. She was eventually removed from the United States.

The illegal immigrant communicated with De La Cruz during the smuggling operation, the court affidavit said. A third person reported he paid De La Cruz for the illegal immigrant’s trip to Vermont. De La Cruz was due to pick up the illegal immigrant as soon as she crossed the international border, the records noted.

There were a series of phone conversations and texts to try to complete the crossing deal, which was to start about 11 p.m. and end up in Vermont by midnight, records show. De La Cruz’s phone then sent a Google Map location pin for a gasoline station location in New York for a pick up, the affidavit said.

The June arrests

During the incident last month, the affidavit indicates De La Cruz failed to cooperate with the Border Patrol when he was pulled over initially in his 2016 gray Ford Transit van, the affidavit said.

The van was spotted heading away from the international border and was followed a short distance by a Border Patrol agent in a fully marked cruiser about noon on June 14. The agent reported seeing a few suspicious driving maneuvers by the van with tinted windows, which are illegal in Vermont.

The agent knew Vermont-registered vans are used by alien smugglers in an effort to blend in with the local population, the affidavit said. The Border Patrol agent initiated a traffic stop shortly after the van passed by the Stewart’s convenience store on Vermont 105.

The affidavit goes on to provide the following report:

De La Cruz refused repeated requests to roll down the window in his van more than 3 or 4 inches and he talked in a very low voice so the federal agent had trouble hearing him. When asked in both English and Spanish to produce his driver’s license De La Cruz refused each request.

The Border Patrol asked about his citizenship and De La Cruz began speaking rapidly and in a low voice that the agent could not understand. De La Cruz was asked to slow his speech, but he didn’t comply and the agent believed he was being evasive.

The agent said he would ask for backup agents that might be able to better communicate with the driver. Two agents, including a supervisor arrived, but De La Cruz and the passenger continued to refuse to provide their names and date of birth and failed to provide any driver’s license.

During the traffic stop De La Cruz and his stepdaughter continued to try to call other people on their cell phones and repeatedly refused to effectively communicate with the Border Patrol. They said they were exercising their rights and wanted to speak to a lawyer.

One Border Patrol Agent radioed headquarters in Swanton to request immigration, criminal history and warrant checks on the registered owner of the van.

Meanwhile the supervisor and an agent ordered De La Cruz again out of the van, but he refused. He was warned that failure to comply with the request would lead to both suspects being removed.

They refused the order, and the supervisor used his department-issued baton to break the driver’s side window about 15 minutes after the initial traffic stop.

The agents were able to open the door from the inside and De La Cruz was helped out of the van. He continued not to cooperate, the affidavit concluded about De La Cruz.

Meanwhile the Border Patrol said Heidi Perez Alfaro also continued not answering questions, so her door was opened, and she was assisted out of the van.

Perez Alfaro continued to refuse to speak with the Border Patrol, who noticed “De La Cruz shaking his head at the passenger as a signal for her to not answer any questions,” the affidavit said.

“Both De La Cruz and the passenger were placed in handcuffs, patted down for weapons, and placed in the back of marked Border Patrol vehicles,” the affidavit said.

De La Cruz eventually provided a Vermont license with a Milton address.

They were eventually jailed for being in the United States illegally, the Border Patrol said. They do not face criminal charges, but are facing removal hearings.