United States of America v. Abraham Romo-Rivera and Amairani Munoz-Molinar

El Paso, Texas criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with bringing or harboring aliens in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1324.

Reported by Kent Morlan

On June 7, Abraham Romo-Rivera, 39, and Amairani Munoz-Molinar, 29, approached the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in a vehicle and applied for admission into the United States. The vehicle had New Mexico plates, and Romo-Rivera was allegedly the driver of the vehicle. Romo-Rivera was accompanied by multiple passengers, including Munoz-Molinar. A criminal complaint alleges that Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar presented the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer (CBPO) with their Lawful Permanent Resident Cards and Romo-Rivera additionally presented identification documents for two other passengers, declaring them to be his son and daughter. The documents allegedly bore the information of other individuals, and the CBPO noticed that the female passenger attempted to avoid showing her face.

The CBPO referred the vehicle to secondary inspection, where Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar allegedly maintained that the two passengers were their son and daughter. The CBPO also recognized that the photo on the female’s supposed identification document did not match the female, leading her to allegedly disclose that she was not the person depicted on the I.D. and was a citizen of Mexico.

Further investigation revealed that Romo-Rivera was allegedly going to be paid $10,000 to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. During a pat-down search of Munoz-Molinar, a CBPO allegedly located a manila envelope containing the actual Mexican birth certificates and Mexican passports belonging to the two illegal aliens. The male passenger was determined to be a minor.

Romo-Rivera and Munoz-Molinar were arrested and charged with one count of bringing in and harboring aliens. If convicted, they each face up to 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.