First immigrant smuggling arrest made at Anzalduas bridge

MISSION — U.S. customs officers last week arrested a Rio Grande City woman on federal alien smuggling charges — the first such case at the recently opened Anzalduas International Bridge.

Iris Cristal Sanchez Hernandez, a 25-year-old Mexican national living in Rio Grande City, drove north with a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl Wednesday at Anzalduas International Bridge, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement.

Sanchez handed U.S. birth certificates for the children to a customs officer at the border checkpoint and said they were U.S. citizens, authorities said. The woman was referred to a secondary inspection station, where officers learned the children are Mexican citizens.

Sanchez was arrested on federal alien smuggling charges and remains incarcerated pending an appearance before a U.S. magistrate.

The children remain in custody and await release to their biological parents. CBP officers seized the woman's Pontiac Grand Am sedan.