A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer has been sentenced to nearly a decade in prison for smuggling illegal aliens and taking bribes from a Mexican cartel.
Emanuel Isac Celedon, a 37-year-old former CBP officer from Laredo, Texas, has been sentenced to 117 months in prison and four years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña also ordered Celedon to pay a monetary judgment of $17,980.
Celedon pleaded guilty to his crimes on March 11, 2024, but was not sentenced until last week. The former CBP officer also admitted to taking bribes and attempting to import cocaine, as he accepted money to allow what he believed to be cocaine to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border.
During his sentencing hearing, the court highlighted the fact that Celedon’s job was to protect the U.S. and the American people from drug smuggling and illegal aliens, yet he did the exact opposite in order to profit from his position. The judge also pointed out that Celedon was deeply involved in the cartel and apparently wanted to go deeper, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Former federal officer sentenced for smuggling aliens and receiving bribes from cartel https://t.co/84jVQlys2B
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2025
U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei has vowed that anyone “who aids or works for the cartel is going to find themselves on the wrong end of a federal indictment,” according to the press release.
“This case was especially troubling given the position of trust the defendant held,” Ganjei added. “His criminal conduct stands in stark contrast to the heroic work the men and women of CBP are doing every day to keep our border and ports secure.”
According to authorities, Celedon reached out to the Cartel del Noreste in 2023 while working as a CBP officer at the port of entry in Laredo, requesting that they pay him to smuggle drugs and illegal aliens through his inspection lane.
🚨 NEW: Former federal officer nailed for "smuggling aliens and receiving bribes from cartel." Surprise, surprise! How many more "federal officers" are in on this dirty game? Emanuel Isac Celedon, 37, pled guilty for his crimes at the Lincoln Juarez Port. Corruption exposed!… pic.twitter.com/1Y6ea9T4Ko
— Luca Taner (@LucaTaner) March 31, 2025
A subsequent undercover operation led to Celedon expressing interest in smuggling cocaine for money, even providing the undercover officer with his duty schedule and instructions to direct a loaded vehicle into his inspection lane. Celedon then allowed the vehicle to enter the U.S., and received $6,000 for allowing the supposed cocaine into the country on two different occasions in October 2023.
He was also found to have conspired with at least three other individuals to smuggle illegal aliens into the country. The press release explains: “Celedon provided his daily lane assignment to Mexican national Homero Romero-Hernandez, 32, who passed the information to Jose Osvaldo Zapata-Vasquez, 25, another Mexican national with ties to the cartel. Zapata-Vasquez hired Cotulla resident Beatris Guadalupe Martinez, 22, to act as the driver.”
“Zapata-Vasquez relayed instructions to Martinez based on information Celadon provided regarding when to pick up the aliens in Mexico and which lane to approach when making entry to the United States,” the press release continues.
“The investigation revealed Martinez transported people through Celedon’s lane on at least nine separate occasions between September and November 2023,” the document adds. “Each time, Celedon permitted entry without inspecting any of Martinez’s passengers. Additionally, on at least two of those dates, Celedon falsely inputted information into a CBP database in order to avoid sending Martinez to a mandatory secondary inspection.”
Following that incident, Celedon contacted Zapata-Vasquez and Romero-Hernandez, asking them to reassure the smugglers in Mexico that he was doing his part to help the cartel.
When he was arrested, law enforcement found $1,980 in cash on Celedon, which he reportedly admitted was money he received for human smuggling.
Saldaña previously sentenced Zapata-Vasquez to 46 months in prison, Romero-Hernandez to 36 months in prison, and Martinez to 42 months in prison.
