EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two Mexican nationals are facing felony charges for allegedly trying to smuggle 10 migrants to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mario Burciaga Flores and Jose Perez Hernandez were arrested last week by members of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Anti-Smuggling Unit who were tracking a four-vehicle caravan allegedly trying to circumvent a highway checkpoint on Interstate 25. Migrants dead, injured after National Guard opens fire on smugglers The agents witnessed four vehicles “loaded with passengers” exit I-25 north of Las Cruces on Oct. 29; they followed them to State Road 187 where two vehicles stopped at a convenience store. The agents approached the drivers of a red Jeep Grand Cherokee and a red Ford Focus. Court records show Burciaga was driving the Focus and allegedly admitted to agents that neither he nor his four passengers were authorized to be in the United States. Perez allegedly stated likewise for himself and six passengers in the Jeep. Nearly 200 families separated by US-Mexico border reunite briefly in annual event The 12 were taken to the Border Patrol Station in Las Cruces. Perez allegedly told investigators he was working as an undocumented laborer in Las Cruces when an acquaintance asked him if he wanted to make money driving migrants to Albuquerque – a major city with interstate highway connections to Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Oklahoma. Perez allegedly said he has since transported migrants to Albuquerque for money on numerous occasions. Migrants looking for better lives and schools in America get mixed results Burciaga said he was recently smuggled from Mexico to the United States and was staying at a house in Las Cruces when someone there offered him a job as a driver. He told investigators he was on a cellphone with smugglers while driving the Focus; they told him to exit I-25 as the Border Patrol checkpoint was fully operational this time, court records show. Investigators have not identified or charged the leaders of the smuggling operation at this time. Perez and Burciaga are scheduled to appear at a detention hearing in U.S. Federal Court in Las Cruces on Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.    Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border Federal officials have identified El Paso, Texas, and southern New Mexico communities as a staging point for the transportation of unauthorized migrants to the Albuquerque hub. Smugglers hire American citizens, especially teenagers, as drivers through social media. More recently, smugglers are assigning driver duties to migrants at stash houses for money or a discount off smuggling fees owed.