Mexican Smuggler Indicted For Killing Border Patrol Agent

The Mexican drug smuggler who killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent well over a year ago has finally been charged with the murder after much stalling by federal prosecutors who have allowed the illegal immigrant to remain in Mexico all this time.

In January 2008 the Mexican smuggler struck Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar, a 32-year-old father of two, in a sports utility vehicle. Authorities say drug smugglers were trying to bring a cargo into the U.S. through California’s Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area when Aguilar tried to stop them by laying down a spike strip. The vehicle’s driver (Jesus Navarro Montes) intentionally hit the agent, according to witnesses.

The tragic incident marked the first murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a decade and the nation’s Homeland Security Secretary at the time, Michael Chertoff, publicly condemned it as a heinous act of violence. 

Incredibly, Montes was allowed to return to Mexico where he supposedly is in the custody of that country’s notoriously corrupt law enforcement agency. In mid February a San Diego grand jury indicted the smuggler with possession of 445 kilograms of marijuana but the more severe charge—murder of a federal officer—was not addressed.

Federal prosecutors finally charged Montes for the brutal crime this week, unsealing a federal grand jury indictment accusing him of second degree murder. The indictment also charges Montes with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of the drug. The U.S. has requested the murdering drug smuggler’s extradition from Mexico.