In a stunning breach of the oath to protect and serve, a National Guard member stationed in South Texas has been convicted for smuggling illegal aliens into the U.S. The soldier, identified as Mario Sandoval, 27, hailing from Houston, was found guilty last Monday, following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Corpus Christi, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility.
Assigned to Operation Lonestar with the Texas National Guard for border security, Sandoval continued to smuggle illegal aliens into the country after his deployment ended in July 2024, found the jury. Sandoval, who had been discharged from service in October 2024, carried out the smuggling operations from the Rio Grande Valley to points north of the immigration checkpoints. According to the evidence presented at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, incriminating text messages were obtained from Sandoval's phone discussing the need for drivers to facilitate these illicit transports.
Surveillance data corroborated Sandoval's presence at immigration checkpoints while he coordinated about law enforcement patrols through text, as reported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The defense's efforts to downplay the texts as out of context fell short, with the jury delivering a guilty verdict after less than an hour of deliberation.
"The conduct in this case represents an unthinkable violation of public trust," stated U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei, as noted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Facing up to 10 years in federal prison, Sandoval is scheduled for sentencing on October 22. For those interested in following the work of HSI Houston in its battle against alien smuggling and transnational crime in Southeast Texas, updates are available on social media at @HSIHouston.
