Martha Sias, a Mexican national who holds a U.S. green card, was arrested Wednesday in El Paso by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after court files say customs officers found more than 20 pounds of crystal meth hidden in her SUV at the Paso Del Norte port of entry in 2022. Sias was on supervised probation after pleading guilty in October 2025 to manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, according to those documents. The Department of Homeland Security said she is amenable to removal proceedings and will have an immigration hearing.
According to KVIA, records filed by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office say a Customs and Border Protection officer pulled aside a Ford Expedition driven by Sias for additional screening on Jan. 12, 2022, after an X-ray scan flagged what appeared to be oddly shaped bundles. Officers then found 18 taped bundles concealed in the rear door panels. The packages tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed a total of 20.6 pounds, according to the filings. The passenger, identified in court records as Oscar Ochoa, was also arrested, and CBP referred the case to local prosecutors.
How officers spotted the load
Ports of entry such as Paso Del Norte routinely rely on nonintrusive X-ray imaging, Z-portal systems, and drug-sniffing dogs to screen vehicles and decide when to send them to full secondary inspection. That mix of technology and canine work has driven multiple sizeable seizures at downtown crossings in recent years. As reported by FOX19, officers often pair X-ray scans with K-9 alerts when deciding which vehicles to search more aggressively.
Legal stakes for green-card holders
Under federal immigration law, a controlled-substance conviction can make a lawful permanent resident deportable, and trafficking offenses are frequently treated as aggravated felonies with especially severe consequences. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227 for deportability grounds and 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) for the aggravated-felony definition, both available from Cornell Law School and Cornell Law School. If an immigration judge concludes that Sias's state conviction fits those categories, she could face mandatory detention, be cut off from most forms of relief, and be deemed inadmissible in the future.
DHS statement and next steps
A DHS spokesperson told KVIA that "Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right," adding that Sias "will receive full due process" and has an upcoming hearing. ICE took custody of Sias in El Paso on Wednesday, and court records say her October 2025 state plea led to a 10-year supervised-probation sentence. The immigration case will determine whether that conviction triggers removal or whether any legal protections might apply.
Local context
Paso Del Norte is one of El Paso’s busiest crossings and has been the site of several large narcotics interdictions in recent years. Earlier Paso Del Norte seizures have highlighted a pattern of vehicle-borne smuggling attempts that CBP and ICE have disrupted, as per Hoodline. Local defense attorneys and immigrant-rights groups say cases that combine criminal convictions with immigration enforcement can be especially complicated for defendants and their families.
An immigration judge will ultimately decide whether Sias is removable and whether any relief is available to her. Court filings and agency statements in the case are expected to shed more light as the proceedings move forward.
