McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A South Texas man has pleaded guilty to smuggling 36 immigrants in the back of a tractor-trailer, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Eusebio Cavazos, 33, of Alamo, pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting aliens into or within the United States, ICE says.

Prosecutors say Cavazos was stopped by immigration officials on Dec. 13, 2024, after he drove a tractor-trailer into the primary inspection lane at the Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita in Kenedy County, Texas.

A canine unit flagged the truck and it was sent to secondary inspection where officials say they discovered 36 undocumented immigrants inside the trailer, which was not carrying anything else.

This included 15 Guatemalans, 10 Hondurans, eight Mexican nationals and three from El Salvador, ICE says.

Cavazos told officials someone had hired him to drive the immigrants inside the truck from a point near the South Texas town of Donna to Houston and he was promised $1,000 per person he transported.

“The days of transnational criminal organizations raking in billions in illicit profits each year by trampling on our nation’s sovereignty and flooding our country with millions of unvetted aliens who could present a threat to public safety or national security are over,” ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz said. “The law enforcement community in Southeast Texas is united in our effort to restore law and order along the southern border by aggressively pursuing and dismantling human smuggling organizations and other criminal organizations who are bold enough to test our collective resolve.”

Cavazos faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 15.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.