DEL RIO, TX - A federal grand jury indicted a mother and daughter in a scheme to illegally bring a child, to which neither one was related, into the country.

42–year-old Aida Martinez of Eagle Pass, TX, and 20-year-old Aida Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen residing in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, were charged with one count of conspiracy to bring an alien into the U.S., one substantive count of bringing an alien into the U.S., and one count of making a false statement to a federal agent.

On September 23, the defendants brought an undocumented 2-year-old girl into the U.S. through the Eagle Pass Port of Entry while fraudulently using Rodriguez’s actual daughter’s birth certificate.

The defendants later admitted their intent was to take the child to unknown individuals in San Antonio, collect payment for the child, then return the money to co-conspirators in Piedras Negras.

Martinez and Rodriguez have remained in federal custody since their arrest and the child has been placed in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The two women face up to ten years in federal prison on the conspiracy charge, between three and ten years in federal prison on the substantive alien smuggling charge, and up to five years in federal prison for the false statement charge.

HSI Eagle Pass office is leading the investigation into this case.