DACA ‘Dreamer’ Arrested for Smuggling Meth

An illegal immigrant “Dreamer” in the U.S. under protection of the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty was arrested Tuesday on charges of trying to smuggle more than 17 pounds of methamphetamine through a Border Patrol checkpoint.

Jose Rafael Arreguin-Maguellal, 22, admitted he was carrying the meth and said he was going to get paid $800 for driving it to Los Angeles, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said in an affidavit accompanying the charges.

Border Patrol agents identified Mr. Arreguin’s car as he drove up to the checkpoint on Highway 86 south of the Salton Sea in Southern California. Mr. Arreguin told the agents he was covered by DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, then began stumbling over his words as they asked him where he was coming from.

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{snip} The agents said the load tested positive as meth and had a street value of nearly $35,000.

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Mr. Arreguin is the latest in a string of DACA recipients to have been snared in legal troubles along the U.S.-Mexico border this year.

A number of DACA recipients have been charged with attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S.

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