"In November, he pleaded guilty to participating in a human smuggling operation in Arizona and then self-deported to his native Mexico, putting his budding Major League Baseball career on hold. His case is the latest to highlight the complex operations of human smuggling networks, operated by so-called coyotes, which in recent years have been shown to recruit all kinds of people—youngsters, mothers, military personnel, and even the son of a popular singer—to circumvent increasingly stringent border security controls."
"Scouts for the Padres saw him play in Monterrey more than two years ago and offered him a dream contract of $750,000 in February 2024. Later, the team ranked him fifth in their prospect rankings. But by August of last year he still hadn't made his debut, and after an elbow injury and surgery, he was expected to miss the current season, which runs from March to September."
"Cruz was arrested on October 28 in Lukeville, Arizona. Border Patrol agents patrolling a local highway observed Cruz traveling south alone in a BMW SUV. A short time later, they saw the same vehicle heading north with two passengers. The agents found it suspicious and pulled it over. Inside the vehicle, they found two undocumented Mexican immigrants, one of whom had been deported four days earlier, according to the indictment."
"During an interview with the agents, the pitcher claimed he had responded to a social media ad offering easy money for transporting people. He confessed, however, that he knew beforehand—"
Humberto Cruz, a 19-year-old Mexican pitching prospect for the San Diego Padres, pleaded guilty in November to participating in a human smuggling operation in Arizona and self-deported to Mexico, putting his baseball career on hold. His situation reflects how smuggling networks, often run by “coyotes,” recruit a wide range of people to bypass stricter border security. Cruz had been scouted in Monterrey and received a $750,000 contract offer in February 2024, later ranking fifth among Padres prospects. After an elbow injury and surgery, he was expected to miss the season. In October, he was arrested in Lukeville, Arizona, after Border Patrol observed him traveling south alone and then north with two passengers. Agents found two undocumented Mexican immigrants in his BMW SUV, including one deported days earlier, and Cruz admitted he responded to a social media ad but knew beforehand.
Read at english.elpais.com
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