San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Friday stopped a New Mexico police officer at the San Ysidro port of entry when he attempted to enter the United States with an illegal alien.
At about 10 a.m. March 26, Ronald Lewis Haley, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen and member of the Bosque Farms Police Department near Albuquerque, New Mexico, drove up to the San Ysidro port of entry in a Chevy Tahoe with New Mexico plates. He was driving with a female passenger.
Haley presented his own valid travel documents, and presented a Mexican border crossing card for his female passenger. The CBP officer suspected that the document did not belong to the female passenger, and referred the car and occupants for a more thorough inspection.
CBP officers discovered that the document actually belonged to the woman's sister, and that the woman did not have any legal documents to enter the United States.
CBP officers arrested Haley; he is currently being held at the San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting charges brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego.
"There is no profile of what a smuggler looks like, so our officers have to expect to encounter anything. It is disheartening to see a police officer taken away in handcuffs to face charges," said Chris Maston, port director at the San Ysidro port of entry. "Spotting an imposter to a legal document is a difficult task, but one that officers here at San Ysidro perform countless times a day. I am extremely proud of the diligence of my officers."