Judge releases former pro soccer star from jail
A former star of Tijuana’s professional soccer team, who has been jailed since September for trying to smuggle two undocumented immigrants through the Otay Mesa border crossing, was sentenced Monday in federal court in San Diego to time served.
Raúl Enríquez Arámbula, 37, who last played for the Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles in 2013, pleaded guilty in October to one count involving human smuggling.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan on Monday ordered him to be released from jail and gave him credit for the 86 days he has been in custody since his Sept. 11 arrest. The term was just shy of the 90-day recommended by prosecutors.
Enríquez is the Xolos’ all-time top scorer with 81 goals in 203 matches from 2007 to 2013. During his tenure with the team, he helped lead Club Tijuana from Mexico’s second division to its first division.
According to prosecutors and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Enríquez, who has not played professionally since 2018, tried to drive into the U.S. around 5 a.m. on Sept. 11 through a SENTRI lane at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. While at the customs booth, an officer shined a flashlight into the back of his Cadillac SUV and noticed a dark blanket covering something.
Officers found two Mexican women hiding in the vehicle, a CBP officer wrote in a probable-cause statement. Enríquez, who had presented a B1/B2 business and tourism visa, denied knowing the women were in his vehicle.
Enríquez’s sentencing memo told a rags-to-riches life story about a boy and his eight siblings who grew up in the bakery that his father ran out of their home in a small town in the Mexican state of Colima. Enríquez signed his first professional contract at 18, launching a 20-year career. His attorney described him as a devoted husband to his wife of 12 years and a “wonderful father” of two.
Documents gave no insight as to Enríquez’s motivation for committing the crime.