HIGHGATE, Vt. (AP) — A North Carolina woman is facing a charge she was transporting people into the United States who didn’t have permission to be in the country, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Vermont.
The complaint said that just after 2 a.m. Sunday, the Border Patrol received a report that six people were seen walking into the United States on a remote Vermont road in the town of Highgate that dead-ends near the Canadian border.
A short time later, agents spotted what turned out to be a rented SUV later determined to be driven by Carmen Melari Ferrufino Perdomo, 31, of Charlotte, North Carolina, a U.S. citizen originally from Honduras. It’s unclear if she has an attorney.
In the car were six Mexican citizens between the ages of 21 and 54 who told investigators they had crossed into the United States that night. None of the Mexican citizens, who were later arrested as material witnesses in the case, had criminal or immigration records.
The complaint says Ferrufino flew from New York to Burlington on Saturday where she rented the car in which she was apprehended. Records said she had planned to return the vehicle later Sunday in New York.
In recent months the Border Patrol has seen multiple smuggling events in the area.
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