Two men are facing federal charges in Chattanooga for transporting a van load of illegal aliens.
Arrested were Steven Coty Childs, 21, and German Fernandez-Corona.
Authorities said last Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Trooper Richard Thomas conducted a traffic stop of the van at mile marker 13 of Interstate 75 North. Childs was stopped for speeding and driving too close. Fernandez-Corona was the front seat passenger.
The trooper found 11 Hispanic males and one Hispanic female in the back of the van. It was found that three of the passengers had previously been deported.
Fernandez-Corona refused to give a statement, but Childs said he and Fernandez-Corona were neighbors and that Fernandez-Corona offered him a job. He said he went with Fernandez-Corona to an auto body shop in Pasadena, Tex., where he found several passenger vans.
He said Fernandez-Corona left for a short time, then returned with a van similar to those at the body shop. He said some people who appeared to be migrant workers were in the van.
Childs said he was to be paid $400 to deliver the Hispanics to different locations in the U.S. Two of them got out in Atlanta. He said Fernandez-Corona was making contacts on his cellphone with people awaiting those on the van and was getting directions on a GPS.
The illegal immigrants were to pay $400 each for the trip, it was stated.
Federal Magistrate Court Judge Bill Carter ordered both men held pending a hearing on Friday.