KRGV.com

PHARR - A 36-year-old Pharr resident was arrested Friday and charged with trying to smuggle a boy into the country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Pharr/Reynosa International Bridge said the woman was driving a green minivan with several children onboard. Officials said the woman showed them her U.S. passport and U.S. birth certificates for the four children.

During a secondary examination, officers discovered only three of the children, ages 3, 10 and 12, were related to the woman. The officers' investigation revealed the fourth child, an 11-year-old boy, was a Mexican national without documents to enter the country. The boy was turned over to a U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement center.

The woman was jailed and will go before a judge to face charges for violating U.S. immigration law.