Prosecutors dismiss immigrant-transporting case against Chicano activist

Attorneys Maria Elena Morales, Armando Treviño (center) and Sergio "Keko" Martinez listen to a hearing in state district court in Laredo in 2014. Treviño was charged in San Antonio recently with transporting two undocumented immigrants. less Attorneys Maria Elena Morales, Armando Treviño (center) and Sergio "Keko" Martinez listen to a hearing in state district court in Laredo in 2014. Treviño was charged in San Antonio recently with transporting ... more Photo: Photo By Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times Photo: Photo By Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Prosecutors dismiss immigrant-transporting case against Chicano activist 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

Prosecutors in San Antonio have dismissed immigrant transporting charges against a Chicano activist and lawyer arrested earlier this month after allegedly picking up a pair of undocumented immigrants in rural Dimmitt County.

Armando Treviño, 71, of Laredo was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning in San Antonio, but it was canceled because the U.S. attorney's office dismissed a criminal complaint on Wednesday, records show.

Prosecutors declined comment Thursday, and neither Treviño nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

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Treviño was part of the 1960s movement in Crystal City that led to student walkouts in protest of discrimination against Mexican-Americans, who were subjected to treatment such as being forced to sit at the back of the classroom, barred from speaking Spanish and from eating Mexican food in the cafeteria. He was also a Chicano political activist at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, then known as Texas A&I.

The affidavit of the criminal complaint filed against Treviño said an off-duty Border Patrol agent traveling north on U.S. 83 about 4:30 p.m. July 2 reported seeing two men whom he believed to be undocumented immigrants get into a maroon Toyota SUV beside the road.

Border Patrol agents from the Cotulla station traveling west on FM 133, which connects U.S. 83 to Interstate 35, pulled over a vehicle matching the description heading east with three occupants. They arrested Treviño, who was driving, and two Honduran men.

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The immigrants said they had each paid smugglers $2,500 to be taken to San Antonio but that their guide abandoned them after crossing the Rio Grande and walking for a day through the South Texas brush. The pair tried to catch a ride and the driver of the SUV made a U-turn to pick them up, the affidavit states. Treviño said he couldn’t take them to San Antonio, but would give them a ride as far north as possible, one Honduran told agents.

Acquaintances of Treviño said in prior interviews that they believed he picked up the immigrants out of humanitarian concern, not to smuggle them.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal court and immigration news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland