Workers smuggled in train tunnel

Ontario man alleged to have helped foreigners enter the U.S. illegally

A man accused of smuggling foreigners from Canada into the U.S. through an underground railway tunnel has been arrested and faces multiple charges, U.S. officials said.

Juan Antonio Garcia-Jimenez, a 53-year-old Ontario resident, was allegedly paid thousands of dollars to help at least five people use the tunnel running between Windsor and Detroit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Smuggling individuals through the train tunnel is one of the most dangerous methods I have seen in my career,” Detroit Sector Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said in a statement. “I could not be more proud of the agents and officers who worked on identifying this individual and finally catching him.” Garcia-Jimenez — who is from Guatemala and lives in Windsor — was arrested by U.S. border patrol agents on Wednesday and faces multiple charges related to smuggling aliens, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, adding that the charges have yet to be broken into specific offences.

In an criminal complaint filed in a Michigan court, U.S. Border Patrol agent Michael Goloweyco said an investigation into Garcia-Jimenez began March 19 based on information received from RCMP and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

On that day, Detroit border patrol agents apprehended a Mexican man who had walked through the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel from Windsor, the complaint said. The tunnel is 2.5 kilometres long and used by cargo trains, the attorney’s office said. The man had been working in Canada legally and told authorities someone named “Antonio” had told him he could help with an illegal crossing into the States, the complaint, which contains unproven allegations, said.

The complaint said all five people who were allegedly smuggled were farm workers in Leamington, who used text messages to arrange the details of their border-crossing.