2009-10-06 18:17:38

BROWNSVILLE - Federal agents have arrested two men and a woman accused of smuggling undocumented immigrants into the United States using Jet Skiscq.

Anthony Rodriguez, Andy Rodriguez and Beatriz Manzano Luna were arrested Friday afternoon at Boca Chica Beach and later charged with alien smuggling, court records show.

On Monday morning, the trio went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan.

Morgan set bond for Anthony Rodriguez at $50,000, with a $1,000 deposit, and ordered his brother Andy be held without bond. Both men were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Later that morning, Anthony Rodriguez bonded out.

Bond for Manzano was set at $25,000 and she was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, as well.

Eleven undocumented immigrants were also taken into custody.

The arrests took place after the U.S. Coast Guard alerted U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection about a couple of Jet Skis being used to transport people across the Rio Grande, USBP said.

CBP Marine Interdiction agents rushed to the scene and arrested Manzano, who was wearing a red shirt over blue shorts, as she was trying to load her green and white Jet Ski onto a green GMC Yukon, records show. The CBP agents observed a black Jeep Cherokee and a gray Pontiac Grand Am towing Jet Skis and driving away.

Border Patrol agents later arrested the two Rodriguez brothers at a Border Patrol checkpoint on state Highway 4 as they rode in the Jeep Cherokee, USBP said.

The occupants of the Gray Pontiac Grand Am were stopped but released after the agents discovered they were not involved in the smuggling attempt, records show.

The undocumented immigrants were detained pending immigration hearings and some are being used as material witnesses, according to court records.