Updated at 1:46 p.m. A grand jury has indicted a well-known leader of advocacy group Migrant Justice on charges of smuggling migrants into the country illegally and procuring fraudulent Vermont driver’s privilege cards, according to court documents filed on Thursday. A Migrant Justice spoke sperson said federal immigration agents detained Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz on Thursday morning as he arrived at his job at New Frameworks, a construction company in Essex. According to the indictment, De La Cruz, 30, is charged with three counts related to helping migrants enter the U.S. illegally and then transporting them within the country in exchange for money. The alleged offenses happened between October 2023 and June 2025. De La Cruz is also charged with procuring five fraudulent Vermont driver’s privilege cards, which are available for drivers who are noncitizens and don’t have lawful immigration status, between November 2022 and June 2025. Migrant Justice was instrumental in advocating for 2014 legislation that created the cards. The government alleges De La Cruz took online learner’s privilege tests on behalf of others and renewed Vermont driver’s privilege cards for people living outside Vermont, including one person in Georgia. He allegedly received about $500 per card. In court documents, the government cited evidence from a search of De La Cruz’s cellphone, as well as the cellphone of a person who was detained after entering the country illegally. Its investigation also includes financial records, historical cell site location information, and law enforcement reports. In one example, phone messages show that De La Cruz met with a “coconspirator” in New Hampshire in April 2025, where he was allegedly paid $2,000 for transporting someone who crossed the border illegally. A photo in the court documents shows De La Cruz at an ATM, where financial records indicate he deposited the money. Photos also show a text message exchange from November 2023 that includes screenshots of an area along the U.S.-Canada border. De La Cruz sent a photo to someone with a Canadian number with a circle drawn around a wooded area next to a road, which the government claims indicated the pick-up location for migrants who had just crossed the border. Other messages on De La Cruz’s phone show that he picked someone up around that time, the government alleges. De La Cruz is a former dairy worker from Mexico who has been involved with Migrant Justice since 2018. He first entered the U.S. around 2016 and submitted an application for asylum earlier this month. Another defendant, whose name is redacted in the indictment, is also facing the same charges. The court documents are related to the findings of a grand jury and do not provide full details of the allegations. Migrant Justice rallying supporters on Thursday for Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz outside the federal courthouse in Burlington Credit: Lucy Tompkins The charges appear to stem from an earlier detention last June, when U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled over De La Cruz while he was driving near Richford with his 18-year-old stepdaughter. Agents said they looked suspicious, but De La Cruz said they were delivering food to farmworkers near the border. The two were later released from custody, but, after confiscating De La Cruz’s cellphone, agents discovered that his number matched one that had communicated via WhatsApp with a Mexican woman who was caught crossing the Canadian border last April. The exchange included plans to pick her up once she reached the U.S. Soon after the June traffic stop, the government filed a search warrant for De La Cruz’s cellphone. By 9:30 a.m. Thursday, a group of about 50 supporters had gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Burlington, where De La Cruz is scheduled to appear at 3 p.m. for an arraignment. A Migrant Justice spokesperson declined to comment on the charges, other than to say the group would be back at the courthouse ahead of De La Cruz’s arraignment to “fight for his release.” De La Cruz faces up to 15 years of imprisonment if convicted and a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 years, according to federal prosecutors. This story will be updated. The post Migrant Justice Leader Charged With Human Smuggling appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less