A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employee was recently arrested amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota after state troopers reportedly found him “covered in vomit” and unconscious in a car.
Alfredo Mancillas Jr, 31, faces charges of drunken driving after his arrest early Tuesday morning, jail records show.
The Sahan Journal, a non-profit Minnesota news site, first reported Thursday that Mancillas drew attention from state police after having parked a car in a no-parking zone on a St Paul road and slumping over in the vehicle. Troopers who approached Mancillas alleged that he smelled of alcohol and that his eyes were watery and bloodshot, so they administered to Mancillas a field sobriety test, the Sahan Journal wrote.
Mancillas failed, subsequently refused to submit to a breath test and was booked into a local jail on counts of third- and fourth-degree driving while intoxicated (DWI).
Custody records show Mancillas was released on his own recognizance shortly before noon Tuesday, and the native of Corpus Christi, Texas, was tentatively given a 24 March court date.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – which oversees CBP – said in a statement that the agency’s professional responsibility office was reviewing Mancillas’s DWI arrest.
“CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission,” the DHS statement also said. “And the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe.”
Attempts to contact Mancillas were not immediately available.
His arrest occurred weeks after more than 3,000 federal immigration agents descended on St Paul and Minneapolisas part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
The so-called Operation Metro Surge invited widespread public backlash against the White House after agents fatally shot two 37-year-old US citizens in Minneapolis earlier in January: Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot Good to death on 7 January as she drove away from a confrontation. Then the border patrol killed Pretti having already disarmed and restrained him on 24 January.
On Tuesday, Trump administration officials demoted the border patrol’s Gregory Bovino from his role as the agency’s commander at large and sent him out of Minneapolis. Administration border chief Tom Homan was put in charge of the Minnesota operation and on Thursday said he “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made”, though he didn’t elaborate.
