LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - A southern New Mexico man has joined his brother in pleading guilty to conspiring to illegally transport people into the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico says 30-year-old Samuel Elliott of Columbus pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces.
The office says his brother, 28-year-old Robert Steven Elliott of Columbus, pleaded guilty in January.
The brothers were arrested in September. A criminal complaint said Border Patrol agents responding to a tip went to a trailer where they found Mexican nationals who admitted being in the United States illegally.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Samuel Elliott subsequently tried to use a Columbus Fire Department vehicle to transport the immigrants through a Border Patrol checkpoint.
The brothers await sentencing. Each faces up to10 years in prison.
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