A federal contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used her position to attempt to smuggle more than 30 adult migrants through Texas by lying that they were children who tested positive for COVID-19.

Border Patrol arrested Nancy Berenice Fernandez Luna, 35, on Oct. 4 after she tried to herd the bus full of migrants through a checkpoint. The federal contractor appeared in court Tuesday and U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano set bail at $50,000.

In addition to Fernandez, Border Patrol arrested Juan Torres Ayala, who picked up the charter bus and said he was promised $1,800 to make the trip. He also admitted that he knew the migrants on the bus were entering the country illegally.

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ValleyCentral, based in McAllen, reported that Fernandez previously worked with MVM Inc., a company that provides transportation services. Its clients include the Office of Refugee Resettlement and ICE.

When Fernandez arrived at the Border Patrol checkpoint, she presented agents with her “ICE Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Contract Card,” according to a criminal complaint referenced by the outlet. Fernandez told agents she was transporting migrant children who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Agents called the Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center to verify the contractor’s claims, and the charter bus filled with illegal migrants was subjected to a secondary inspection. It was during secondary inspection that Border Patrol agents discovered that the bus was carrying not children but 39 adults who admitted to being in the United States illegally.

Torres and Fernandez were both charged with transporting people without legal status in the United States, according to the local media outlet.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Fry asked that Fernandez be held without bail, noting that this was not the first time she had attempted to smuggle migrants. Fernandez’s attorney, Jose “Pepe” Garza of McAllen, argued that the woman’s family could only afford $5,000 bail.

Medrano, however, set bail at $50,000 and ordered Fernandez to agree to GPS monitoring if she posted bail. She also noted that Torres and Fernandez are reportedly “in a relationship,” but that the two are not allowed to speak while the case is ongoing.

After Fernandez’s arrest, MVM said in a statement to The Washington Times that she had not worked for the company in six months and was no longer employed there. The company added that it conducted “extensive third-party and government background checks” before hiring the contractor. MVM did not explain in its statement to the Times why its former employee still had her ICE contractor qualifications.

MVM and ICE did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

The issue of border security and migrants entering the United States illegally continues to receive media attention.

According to a recent report, border agents encountered more than 400 people in the terrorist detection database in fiscal year 2024, with the data assessing encounters at the northern and southern borders.

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in San Diego issued a warning notice after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, warning that “foreign fighters motivated by ideology or makeshift mercenaries could attempt to mask travel to or from the United States.” from Middle Eastern countries to Mexico.

The alert stated that individuals attempting to enter the United States may have ties to terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or similar organizations.

The subject of illegal immigration was raised several times throughout the presidential election campaign.

During an interview this month with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” reporter Bill Whitaker pressed Vice President Kamala Harris about the Biden administration’s border policies. During the early years of his administration, President Joe Biden tasked Harris with addressing the “root causes” of mass illegal immigration.

“You recently visited the southern border and welcomed President Biden’s recent crackdown on asylum seekers,” Whitaker said. “And this crackdown led to an almost immediate and dramatic reduction in the number of border crossings. If this is the right answer now, why hasn’t your administration taken these steps in 2021? »

Harris argued that former President Donald Trump was responsible for the current immigration crisis. She believes a border security bill introduced earlier this year would have helped solve the problem, but she said Trump told his “friends in Congress” to “kill the bill, don’t Don’t let him move on.”

Whitaker noted, however, that “there was a historic flood of undocumented immigrants crossing the border in the first three years of your administration” and that the number of arrivals “quadrupled” under the Biden administration.

Harris said the situation at the border was a “long-standing problem.”