Honduran Illegal Immigrant Suspected of Kidnapping Another Illegal Immigrant

New Mexico State Police officers arrested two people in April suspected of hiding illegal immigrants at a residence in Las Cruces, N.M. N.M. State Police

A Honduran national living illegally in New Mexico was indicted in Los Angeles on Sept. 16 for allegedly helping to kidnap a Guatemalan man, who was also living illegally in the country, and demanding ransom from his family living in Southern California.

Darwin Jeovany Palma Pastrana, 30, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of interstate communication involving a ransom demand, and one count of making a threat.

Federal authorities arrested Palma in New Mexico on Aug. 21, and he was arraigned in the U.S. District Court in Riverside on Sept. 13, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Palma pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a Nov. 5 trial. He was held without bond and remained in jail Tuesday.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment against Palma and co-defendant Eduar Isrrael Sauceda Nuñez, 25, another Honduran national also illegally living in New Mexico, on Sept. 4.

The indictment alleges the two men conspired with others to kidnap and hold for ransom migrants who were illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico.

Federal prosecutors say once the migrants were in the United States, they were driven to stash houses in Phoenix, El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque. After arriving at the houses, their cell phones were allegedly seized.

Law enforcement found 57 migrants in the stash house in Albuquerque, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“These defendants allegedly helped to smuggle migrants and then take advantage of them by demanding ransom from the victims’ families to secure their release,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.

Prosecutors allege Palma and other accomplices lived near the stash houses and kept large amounts of cash and firearms. Sauceda and other co-conspirators are suspected of driving immigrants to various locations, including Los Angeles, to reunite them with family and friends after securing ransom payments.

According to federal officials, Palma told Sauceda on April 1 that the family of one Guatemalan national who entered the United States from Mexico was forced to pay $1,500 in ransom to have him released at a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot in Norwalk. The family was allegedly told he would be returned to Mexico and killed if they didn’t come up with the money.

Law enforcement later pulled over and arrested Saucedo, reportedly finding nearly $10,000 cash and receipts in his car. He is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of interstate communication involving ransom demands, and one count of transportation of illegal aliens within the U.S. for private financial gain.

Saucedo remained a fugitive Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Customs and Border Protection officers arrive with a vehicle after a group of illegal immigrants walked from Mexico into the United States at Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on June 5, 2024. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Palma was later arrested after law enforcement investigated a kidnapping complaint near the stash house in Albuquerque. Gunshots were reportedly fired by another suspect in the vicinity of the home when officers arrived on May 20.

The next day, a yellow school bus registered to Palma was parked at the stash house when law enforcement found 57 illegal immigrants detained inside of the house, according to federal prosecutors.

Both defendants face maximum life sentences in federal prison if convicted.

New Mexico’s Stash Houses

Albuquerque police have found dozens of illegal immigrants held in stash houses for at least two years, according to court records.

Officials reported many of the immigrants were allegedly starved, physically and sexually abused, and forced to live in inhumane conditions across the city.

In one case, Homeland Security agents filed court statements in November 2022 with the U.S. District Court of New Mexico, charging three defendants with harboring illegal immigrants and hostage-taking.

According to the court statements, Homeland Security agents and Albuquerque police responded to a home in 2022 after receiving a report of a possible kidnapping from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The special agent and a police detective were told a female from Mexico was kidnapped and brought to Albuquerque and forced into sex trafficking.

A sign in the Organ Pipe National Monument near U.S.-Mexico border warns of smuggling and illegal immigration in Lukeville, Ariz., on Dec. 8, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

The report also advised police that six men were allegedly responsible for kidnapping the woman and 80 other illegal immigrants at a home in the southeast section of the city and were sexually assaulting them.

“Our detectives worked quickly to respond to this tip and they likely saved lives, making this operation a success,” said Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina in a statement in December 2022.

During the investigation, law enforcement found a money transfer was made using one of the suspect’s phones to a person in California. They also found evidence of possible human smuggling during the investigation.

Agents rescued 69 illegal immigrants, including two to four children. Sixty of them—Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Honduras nationals ranging in age from 14 to 46—were found living inside a single-wide trailer.

Law enforcement said they were allegedly being threatened with physical harm, forced labor, and coercion to “make sure the occupants did not flee,” according to court documents.

Illegal immigrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico near Yuma, Ariz., on Sept. 26, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

Rolando Joaquin-Miguel, 37, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was charged with human smuggling and hostage-taking in the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico and the Albuquerque Police Department did not return requests for information about whether the suspect’s case was resolved.

Drug Stash House Found

In another case this year, the New Mexico State Police discovered another stash house in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 40 miles from the Mexican border.

State police discovered 16 illegal immigrants locked in a room with no food, water, or communication devices following a tip given to them during a traffic stop on April 16.

Most recently in Washington, Rodger Bonilla Vargas, 39, a Honduran national who is in the United States illegally, was sentenced on Sept. 5 to nearly three years in federal prison for maintaining a stash house for a cocaine trafficker and helping distribute large amounts of cocaine throughout the DC and Maryland areas, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

Vargas was charged with conspiring with at least four other people to sell cocaine and fentanyl from March to August 2023. Two others—Vladimir Roque Cerone and Erik River3a Garcia—also pleaded guilty in the case.

Vargas faces deportation proceedings upon completion of his prison sentence.