EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A man named Cristo Jesus de Nasareth has an April 22 date in U.S. federal court after a magistrate judge in Texas ordered him held without bond on immigration and weapons and ammunition charges.
Jesus – the last name by which he is referred to in court documents – was apprehended by members of the U.S. Border Patrol horse unit on April 14 while walking along Farm to Market Road 170, just east of Presidio, Texas.
Border agents took note of the man’s muddy, worn-down clothes and approached him to conduct an immigration check. The spot just north of the Rio Grande is not a designated port of entry and is on a stretch known to border agents for migrant smuggling activity.
Jesus, who said he was also known as Christo Raba-de Ravino, allegedly admitted having crossed the river illegally from Mexico into the United States and to not being a U.S. citizen.
The agents got off their horses and proceeded to pat down the man. They found a Smith & Wesson pistol of unknown caliber under multiple layers of clothing, according to a complaint affidavit filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
“The defendant admitted to taking possession of the handgun in Mexico and crossing the United States-Mexico border with the handgun,” Border Patrol Prosecutions Agent Seth Davison said in the affidavit.
Upon further questioning, Jesus identified himself as a citizen of Mexico. He spent three days in detention until summoned to a federal courtroom in Alpine, Texas, to answer to charges of being an alien who unlawfully entered the United States and being an alien unlawfully in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
He was appointed a public defender after affirming he could not afford an attorney. He is being held without bond and has a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Border Report on Good Friday called the federal Public Defender’s Office in Alpine to try to corroborate Jesus’ name but did not receive a response.
A federal official in El Paso told Border Report it is not unusual for migrants to present a false identity when apprehended by border agents. “Motivation varies for concealing identity, the most common is having a prior illegal entry or being wanted for a previous crime or infraction,” the official said.
Years ago, before most migrants caught were fingerprinted or had other biometric information recorded on a computer, it wasn’t unusual for individuals to state the names or famous people such as Mexican singers Vicente Fernandez or Juan Gabriel, said former El Paso and Tucson Border Patrol Chief Victor M. Manjarrez Jr.
"It still happens, but they use some more modern names," Manjarrez said. "Sometimes you would hear the name of an actor like Mario Moreno 'Cantiflas.' The agent would start to write it down and another agent would say, 'Hey, man, that's not his real name.'"