DOJ: Man Pleads Guilty in Cartel Border Tunnel Case

A Mexican pleaded guilty Friday to taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle people into the U.S. through a tunnel running beneath the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the Justice Department said .

Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez, 29, admitted to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens into the U.S. He faces up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

Federal agents found the tunnel in January 2025, according to prosecutors, who described it as sophisticated.

The FBI said it was dug by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which the government has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

Investigators built the case in part on intercepted phone calls.

In those conversations, Davalos-Lopez discussed how many people were moving through the passage and what they were being charged, prosecutors said, referring at one point to fees of more than $30,000 per person. He was indicted in April 2025.

"This defendant demonstrated a total disregard for our nation's laws by conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States through a tunnel that ran from Mexico under the U.S. border into Texas," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Acting Special Agent in Charge Coult W. Markovsky of the FBI's El Paso Field Office said Davalos-Lopez and others "thought they could exploit the United States southern border utilizing a secret tunnel which was constructed by the foreign terrorist organization, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, to facilitate their illegal activities in smuggling of humans, drugs, and firearms."

Two co-defendants have also entered guilty pleas.

Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, 40, pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to providing material support to the cartel.

Gustavo Castro-Medina, 29, pleaded guilty to facilitating firearms purchases. Both are Mexicans.

U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons of the Western District of Texas said the defendants "were key figures in a criminal enterprise that has had a heavy, detrimental impact on both sides of the border, smuggling drugs and illegal aliens into the U.S. while also trafficking firearms into Mexico, firearms which were then used to further facilitate the movement of drugs and illegal aliens into this country."

The FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, Texas, investigated the case with help from the Border Patrol.

Trial Attorney Marie Zisa and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory McDonald handled the prosecution.

The case was brought under Joint Task Force Alpha, a Justice Department effort targeting smuggling networks. The department said the task force has produced more than 482 arrests and 433 convictions to date.

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