A Texas police detective was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for running properties in Eagle Pass that hid nearly 200 undocumented migrants for a human-smuggling gang.
Between September 2020 and August 2021, Hazel Eileen Diaz, 54, rented out several properties she owned in Eagle Pass to hide undocumented migrants, according to a statement from Homeland Security Investigations. She frequently visited the properties to collect rent.
Diaz received about $36,916 through cash and money service transfers, according to the statement. At the time of her arrest, she was found with $23,522 in cash from the illegal operation.
Diaz will also serve three years of supervised release and was ordered by the judge to pay a $10,000 fine, a money judgment of $237,600, and to forfeit three properties, a truck and $23,522.
"This defendant swore to protect and serve her community, but instead she abused her position of public trust by harboring noncitizens inside her rental homes," HSI San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Craig S. Larrabee said in the statement. "The sentencing of this former police officer should serve as a stark reminder that no one is above the law. HSI will continue to bring smugglers to justice, especially those misusing a badge."
Two accomplices were also arrested following the investigation.
Tomas Alejandro Mendez pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and is set to be sentenced in January. Meanwhile, Paola Nikole Cazares was sentenced to over five years in federal prison last year for the same offense.
The FBI, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Texas Department of Public Safety investigated the case in a joint effort.
In fiscal 2024, El Paso sector human smuggling interdiction teams have discovered over 270 stash houses and apprehended 2,663 migrants.
Immigrants are "significantly less likely" to commit crimes than those born in the United States, according to a study by Northwestern University. The study, led by economist Elisa Jácome, looked at U.S. Census incarceration data over the years from 1850 to 2020.
Research by the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, looked at illegal immigration and crime in Texas in 2019. It that undocumented immigrants were 37.1% less likely to be convicted of a crime.
It comes after 77 undocumented migrants were discovered in two stash houses last month in El Paso, according to authorities.
Two individuals were identified as caretakers of the illegal stash house and will face human-smuggling charges.
According to Customers and Border Protection (CBP), a murder suspect was found among the group, which were kept inside a storage shed with poor ventilation, small windows and surrounded by piles of trash.
In May, authorities in Mexico uncovered 104 migrants inside an overcrowded stash house in Juárez, where they were being guarded by armed men.
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