A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol employee was charged with drunken driving in St. Paul after a state trooper found him passed out in a car Tuesday morning “covered in vomit.”
The state trooper found 31-year-old Alfredo Mancillas Jr. of Corpus Christi, Texas, “slumped over in the driver’s seat” at 3:25 a.m. Tuesday in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood near Allianz Field, according to charges filed that day by the St. Paul City Attorney’s Office.
His car was parked in a no-parking zone and smelled like alcohol while Mancillas himself had “bloodshot and watery eyes,” the charges allege.
After failing a field sobriety test, Mancillas refused to submit a breathalyzer test. He was arrested, booked into the Ramsey County jail and charged with 3rd and 4th degree driving while impaired.
When asked by Sahan Journal for comment on Mancillas’ role in Border Patrol and his drunken driving charges, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that, “On Jan.27, an employee of Custom and Border Protection was arrested by Minnesota State Troopers for driving under the influence in Saint Paul, MN.”
The agency said its office of professional responsibility is reviewing the incident.
“CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Sahan Journal.
Mancillas appeared in court Tuesday, and was released on his own recognizance, according to court records. He was denied a request for a public defender, and had no attorney publicly listed on his case at the time this story was published.
Attempts to reach Mancillas were unsuccessful. His next court hearing is scheduled for March 24.
Mancilla’s arrest came during Operation Metro Surge, the largest federal immigration crackdown in U.S. history, that saw an influx of 3,000 Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into Minnesota.
The operation caused constant chaos in Minnesota throughout January, as immigration agents were accused of over-aggressive use of force, detaining U.S. citizens and children, entering homes without judicial warrants and killing U.S. citizens Renee Nicole Macklin Good and Alex Pretti.
Gregory Bovino, the border patrol commander who was the public face of the operation in Minnesota, was sent out of state and demoted earlier this week following Pretti’s killing Saturday. Border czar Tom Homan is now leading the operation, and has hinted at more targeted operations and a withdrawal of some agents.
