Los Angeles

Agent Acted at Behest of Organized Crime Figure: Feds

A longtime immigration agent from Murrieta was arrested on federal charges of helping a foreign national enter the United States without proper authorization, prosecutors announced in Los Angeles.

Felix Cisneros, 42, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, was arrested Wednesday pursuant to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court. He appeared Thursday afternoon for an initial federal court appearance but was not asked to enter a plea. A magistrate judge said Cisneros could soon be released from custody on a $300,000 bond.

Cisneros waived a preliminary hearing, and his arraignment was set for April 27. Cisneros, a 10-year veteran of ICE who most recently was assigned to the HSI Inland Empire office, is charged with aiding and assisting an inadmissible alien to enter the United States, a felony offense that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

According to a court affidavit, Cisneros acted at the behest of a local organized crime figure to allow an inadmissible Mexican national to enter the United States. The Mexican national -- a legal permanent resident, who, as a result of felony convictions, was barred from re-entering the United States -- was employed by the organized crime figure to negotiate with a Mexican company.

The complaint alleges that the organized crime figure asked Cisneros in 2013 to help the Mexican national return to the United States after a trip to Mexico. Cisneros allegedly helped the foreign national regain a passport that had been seized several months earlier and helped facilitate his re-entry into the United States at Los Angeles International Airport. Cisneros convinced officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to return the man's passport and re-admit him to the United States "likely through deception," according to the affidavit.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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