Manuel Perez Jr., 32, a federal agent with US Customs and Border Protection, is lead away from the his post at the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas in handcuffs on Feb. 8

He was fired after his arrest by the FBI El Paso West Texas Border Corruption Task Force on federal and human drug smuggling charges

Perez was accused of getting paid to let illegal immigrants and drugs into the US, but also of being a member of the cartel

Feds accused allege Perez Jr. had been bankrolled to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000 a year by ‘La Linea,’ the armed wing of the Juarez drug cartel

Border agent Perez Jr was accused of being a cartel member, investigated and arrested after his wife’s lifestyle and social media flaunting raised major red flags

Charged with multiple counts of federal human and drug smuggling, he faces up to life in prison if he is convicted as charged

There is ‘no question’ that he is a flight risk said Judge Miguel Torres as he ordered Perez held without bond on Thursday

US CBP agent Manuel Perez, Jr, [photo] is held in jail in El Paso, Texas after he was charged with taking money in exchange for letting illegal immigrants and drugs into the country, according to federal prosecutors

Lavish trips to Dubai and designer clothing for a federal border agent’s wife were allegedly funded by his suspected membership of a Mexican drug cartel.
Prosecutors allege Manuel Perez Jr, a 32-year-old agent with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in El Paso, Texas, had been bankrolled to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000 a year by ‘La Linea,’ the armed wing of the Juárez drug cartel, El Paso Times reported.
At a court hearing on Thursday, federal prosecutors said the California native was not only getting paid to let illegal immigrants and drugs into the US, but he was also a member of the Juárez based ‘La Linea’ drug cartel.
His wife’s jet-set lifestyle and extravagant social media posts, as well as his own retinue of personal bodyguards were disclosed to be among the red flags that opened the CBP agent to investigation and his arrest; ‘He would party in Juárez all the time with bodyguards, and him and his wife would always go on trips to Dubai and Vegas with all the designer clothes,’ one federal officer revealed.
‘Multiple witnesses said he belonged to La Linea Cartel in Mexico,’ an investigator with the CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility testified at the court hearing in El Paso Thursday. 
Perez, assigned to inspect people and cars trying to enter the US from Mexico at a checkpoint at the Paso del Norte International Bridge, was taken into custody on February 8, while he was on the job.

Manuel Perez Jr., 32, a federal agent with US Customs and Border Protection, is led away from the his post at the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas in handcuffs on Feb. 8. He was fired after his arrest by the FBI on federal and human drug smuggling charges.

A photo of the arrest shows Perez, 32, in a navy-colored uniform worn by agents in CBP’s Office of Field Operations. 
With his hands behind his back, he was lead away by other federal agents who had been surveilling him. 
He pleaded not guilty to violating multiple immigration laws including migrant conspiracy and drug smuggling.
Prosecutors say Perez also conspired to take eight kilos of cocaine from El Paso to Louisiana and North Carolina. The investigation found Perez and a co-conspirator in October 2023 arranged to take eight kilos of cocaine from El Paso to Louisiana and North Carolina, authorities said. That information was corroborated with records from license-plate readers “placed strategically across the United States” that showed the vehicle’s travel across Texas to Louisiana to Alabama and to North Carolina. Hotel records were also found.
After his arrest, Perez allegedly told investigators that the smuggler had already paid him $20,000 for ‘seven kilos of cocaine’ and that the smuggler had a drug debt with him for the rest of the money.
The now-fired officer had allegedly been letting illegal immigrants through his inspection lane since December 2023 and making money off of it.
Perez allegedly told investigators that he was being paid $2,500 for each undocumented person he allowed to pass at his inspection lane at the Paso Del Norte international bridge in Downtown El Paso
Smugglers bragged they had ‘the officer in their pocket’ during intercepted phone calls, prosecutors stated, adding that Perez was salary was between $100,000 to $200,000, made double his salary through a human smuggling scheme dating to December 2023.
A separate cocaine distribution conspiracy case dates from Feb. 5 going back to November 2019, according to the indictment.
Smugglers in intercepted phone calls spoke of “100% guaranteed” crossings because they had “the officer in their pocket,” the agent testified. 
Names of others involved in smuggling have not been disclosed and at Thursday’s hearing defense attorney Ruben Ortiz suggested that the yet unnamed co-conspirators involved in the border smuggling could be lying about his client.

Perez, assigned to inspect US-Mexico traffic at a checkpoint at the Paso del Norte International Bridge. Feds allege Perez belonged to La Linea drug cartel. He was part of a smuggling operation, letting in illegal immigrants and drugs into the US in exchange for money

With the extra income, Perez and his wife allegedly lived like a drug lord. His co-workers had noticed after seeing extravagant internet posts made by Perez’s wife. She since deleted her social media accounts after her husband’s arrest. 
The lifestyle presented in her posts appeared to be beyond what a CBP officer making $100,000-$200,000 on a government salary could afford.
A jail booking photo shows Manuel Perez, Jr., in jail in El Paso, Texas after he was charged with taking money in exchange for letting illegal immigrants and drugs into the country, according to federal prosecutors
Perez not only partied in Juárez, the Mexican city directly across the border from El Paso, but lived there, too.
While he kept an apartment on the US side of the border, he also rented a home on the Mexican side – where he spent 80 percent of his time when he wasn’t at work, prosecutors claimed.
Federal agents are not allowed to live in Mexico unless they are assigned there, and most would consider it too dangerous.
Prosecutors said Perez was always armed while in Juarez, even while he was sleeping, and that he was accompanied by security.
As part of the testimony, investigators said they had photos of Perez and his armed goons in Mexico. 
U.S. federal agents contacted Mexican agents, who found $18,000 in cash after serving a search warrant at Perez’s home in Juárez.
Charged with multiple counts of federal human and drug smuggling, he faces up to life in prison if he is convicted as charged.
He remains in jail in El Paso, despite his lawyer’s best effort to get him released on bond on Thursday. There is ‘no question’ that Perez is a flight risk said Judge Miguel Torres as he ordered him held without bond.