Mexican man pleads guilty to impersonating Border Patrol agent to ‘disrupt deportation missions’

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Mexican man in the United States has pleaded guilty to impersonating a Border Patrol agent and following federal immigration officers to divert them while they were out on immigration enforcement missions in Southern California.

Jamie Ernesto Alvarez-Gonzalez admitted to following a Border Patrol agent on Jan. 8 while he was driving in a neighborhood in San Diego, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

Prosecutors said Alvarez-Gonzalez’s black Ford F-150, a model also used by undercover federal officers, had a license plate with federal truck written on the frame in small letters, though the word federal was misspelled. He put a Border Patrol sticker in the windshield and non-working radio communications antennae on the roof, according to the complaint. Handcuffs were hung from the rearview mirror.

The agent aborted his mission when he saw Alvarez-Gonzalez following him, falsely believing other agents were responding, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

When Alvarez-Gonzalez was confronted by real agents, he “shouted obscenities and demanded agents leave the community of Linda Vista,” prosecutors said. Three other cars also arrived at one point and began harassing departing agents and chasing them on the highway.

Prosecutors said Alvarez-Gonzalez had made a recording where he said he was actively looking for federal agents working on immigration enforcement and had brought in his “reinforcements.” He also had a fake FBI badge.

He pleaded guilty to one count of impersonating a federal agent and three counts of illegally possessing firearms. His federal public defender did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Alvarez-Gonzalez overstayed his tourist visa, which he used decades ago to enter the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.