The two Venezuelan migrants accused of murdering a Mexican immigration agent right before the new year will remain in jail until their trial, a judge determined on Monday.
The men stand accused of beating Agent Luis Alberto Garcia Olivas to death after he chased them when they tried to evade a checkpoint near the U.S. border. David J.V. and Carlos Arichuna S.M. pelted rocks at the agent when he chased them before beating him and throwing him down a hill.
David J.V. stands accused of going down the hill and hitting Garcia Olivas with a rock on the head until he died. Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said smugglers are encouraging migrants to resist when Mexican immigration officials approach them.
"We don't want to criminalize migration; migration is a human right," said in a press conference, according to Border Report. "However, the coming of a new U.S. president has prompted more migrants to (come). This has led to several developments, one of them being the migrants' disdain for Mexican authorities. This, added to desperation to get to the United States, can lead to things like what happened to the INM agent," he added.
The next hearing for the two migrants has been set in three months time. They will remain in a Juarez prison until then.
The murder has prompted local authorities to explore potential connections to the notorious "Tren de Aragua" gang, a Venezuelan criminal network which has already been declared a foreign terrorist organization by Texas and has become a target of president-elect Donald Trump's upcoming immigration policies.
The investigation gained traction after an owl tattoo was discovered on one of the Venezuelan nationals, as it is reportedly a symbol associated with the group, according to Infobae. Investigative journalist Luis Chaparro also claimed the tattoo signifies the men's role as "guides" in human smuggling operations.
Gilberto Loya Chávez told Infobae that the organization has established ties with regional criminal networks, using these alliances to traffic people and engage in other illicit enterprises:
"They operate more in the center of the country, but we may start to see them in the north [...] we do not rule out the possibility that they could begin establishing links here, just as they already have operations with people from Peru, people from Colombia, and in the state of Chihuahua, we have identified them as working with a gang that primarily operates in Ciudad Juárez"
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