Federal authorities say 53 migrants were discovered sitting along both sides of a trailer during a traffic stop near El Paso last week, an operation that has led to smuggling charges against three men. The case began Oct. 28, when Horizon Police Department officers pulled over a semi-truck driven by Miguel Angel Debruhl, a U.S. citizen, and unraveled from there into allegations involving a second truck, a suspected stash house and a five-figure smuggling fee.
During that initial stop, U.S. Border Patrol agents searched Debruhl's truck and allegedly found a backpack stuffed with a large number of cell phones, according to the Department of Justice. Debruhl was arrested following that discovery, per the DOJ, and has since been charged with alien smuggling. Around the same time, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper pulled over a second semi-truck, which is where agents say they found the 53 migrants. As Fox San Antonio reported, the inspection led to “the discovery of 53 illegal aliens sitting along both sides of the trailer.”
That second truck was allegedly driven by Alan Montelongo, who agreed to an inspection of the cab and trailer, authorities allege. A criminal complaint, cited by the Department of Justice, alleges that troopers discovered the 53 migrants sitting along the trailer during that search. Debruhl and Montelongo reportedly left a truck yard together on Oct. 28, the same day the stops occurred.
A $16,000 Deal Through the Las Cruces Checkpoint
Investigators allege Montelongo agreed to transport the 53 migrants through the I-25 Border Patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces in exchange for roughly $16,000, a sum he was to split with Debruhl, according to Fox San Antonio's reporting on the case. Montelongo has since been charged with alien smuggling alongside Debruhl.
A third man, Abel Delval-Dominguez, described by the DOJ as a Mexican national in the country illegally, was also arrested and charged with alien smuggling. Fox San Antonio reports the three defendants include two U.S. citizens and a Mexican national living in the country without legal status. A joint law-enforcement operation led to the arrests of all three men.
Surveillance at a Suspected Stash House
Border Patrol agents say they continued surveillance at a suspected stash house tied to the case, according to the DOJ. Delval-Dominguez was allegedly seen loading groceries and several full black trash bags into a pickup truck, and agents had previously seen him and that same pickup transporting migrants between the stash house and the truck yard, according to KVIA's reporting on the criminal complaint.
The case adds to a string of recent smuggling busts across the region. Just days earlier, agents in a separate Las Cruces case found 42 migrants, including three unaccompanied minors, inside a tractor-trailer, according to the same KVIA report. Prosecutors in that case charged Miguel Malo Poggio with transportation of migrants following a Border Patrol stop on I-25.
Smuggling cases involving tractor-trailers and stash houses are not new to the Borderland. In a 2025 case near El Paso, agents found eight people living in the country illegally inside a motel room, according to the El Paso Times. The four men arrested in that case faced federal charges of bringing in and transporting migrants and faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the paper reported.
Part of a Larger Border Enforcement Push
Federal prosecutors tied this case to a broader wave of enforcement, noting it was among more than 235 new federal immigration cases filed across the Western District of Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has separately said El Paso Sector agents disrupted 24 tractor-trailer smuggling events and found 387 migrants during fiscal year 2024, though that figure reflects a single prior year and does not establish a direct comparison to the current case.
No further details on the condition or identities of the 53 migrants found in the trailer have been released. It remains unclear how the charges against Debruhl, Montelongo and Delval-Dominguez will ultimately be resolved.
