Visitors entering the USA have faced increased scrutiny under the new administration, but perhaps the answer is just a few Benjamins inside your passport? Two US Customs and Border Protection officers have been charged with taking bribes to look the other way and allow undocumented travelers into the United States at a busy Southern California border crossing. Is this the ominous future of travel in the USA?
US Border Protection Officers Took Bribes To Let In Travelers Without Passports
I’ll never forget having to bribe my way out of Kazakhstan in 2012…the corrupt border official declared my visa invalid and wanted cash to let me out of the country at Almaty International Airport.
> Read More: Bribing My Way Out of Kazakhstan
As I flew to Germany on Lufthansa, I remember being so thankful that my own country, the USA, was not a corrupt nation, but a nation of law and order.
Lately, though, we’ve been hearing a lot of eye-racing stories about foreigners being denied entry to the USA on spurious grounds. On the flip side, though, it appears that some agents are taking advantage of the opportunity to try and personally enrich themselves via bribes.
Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez manned inspection booths at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, California. But US prosecutors caught wind that the officers had agreed to accept money from human traffickers in exchange for letting migrants into the USA without any paperwork. Large cash deposits into their bank accounts could not be explained.
Prosecutors reviewed surveillance footage and found instances of vehicles with multiple passengers pulling up to the checkpoint but only the driver was documented as entering the USA.
According to prosecutors, the investigation began after three arrested migrant smugglers told federal investigators they were working directly with US border inspectors. In the case of Almonte, investigators found $70,000 in cash that his romantic partner was trying to move to Mexico (meaning Almonte may face additional charges for money laundering and obstruction of justice).
Bribes to enter foreign nations are about as old as time itself…look at the biblical story of Rhan the prostitute hiding the Israelite spies in the Hebrew Bible.
I’m thankful the Justice Department is prosecuting these men and hope that DOGE efforts will focus on rooting out the corruption and disgusting customer service at DHS. I have to wonder, though, as the US jumps off an economic cliff, whether more border officials will be willing to accept bribes for entry.
I guess we’ll find out.
image: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem visits the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California on March 16, 2025. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)
“ Lately, though, we’ve been hearing a lot of eye-racing stories about foreigners being denied entry to the USA on spurious grounds”
Define “a lot”. 70,000 foreigners enter the US daily. How many are being denied and again, what is “a lot”?
“ Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez” These names alone having jobs with the government shows how much waste is out there. Play DEI games and this is what you end up with.
A typically idiotic anti-DEI post. Southern California is heavily Latino, including 93% of San Ysidro. Absent extremely racist hiring policies, you’re going to end up with people with names like Ricardo Rodriguez in these jobs. (And, never fear, aggressively mediocre white males in low-skilled positions that imbue them with a sense of authority/power take bribes, too.)
If only everyone had real American names like “Dave Edwards.”
You are a racist a**hole.
These people have become the scum of the earth. It used to be that they were just rude. Now, thanks to being empowered by Trump to new levels they are taking on the level of Schutzstaffel. Let’s add corruption and bribery to the mix to bring about complete chaos.
When the Civil War breaks out I’m sure they will be found quickly though.
If there is one, your side will be easily defeated.
You are a minority.
You think that these border officers were doing Trump’s bidding by accepting bribes to let illegals into the US?
Hopefully you didn’t pull a hammy jumping to that conclusion.
No, I think Trump has thrown every agency into chaos and thus encouraged corruption. As well, people see the corruption of Trump, Musk, and are enabled to be just like them.
I see you’ve pulled both hammies.
mUh tRuMp
Trump & Co — and their enablers — have encouraged a climate of corruption in the US by gutting the means of government accountability and being part and parcel of unprecedented corruption in the country.
My Grandmother and I were self-connecting at YYZ since it’s usually cheaper to fly out of YYZ than other airports in the Midwest or East Coast three years ago. The Canadians were fine with me staying in Canada for an hour to help her connect at T3 at YYZ but as I was going to catch my flight back to the US, CBP said that it was suspicious and held me for 12 hours. They claimed racketeering, money laundering, trafficking substances, and other stuff but couldn’t find any evidence.
This is a complete foil to what I went through and thought it was a little funny.
If you’re going to make up a completely false story, at least pepper some things in there to aid in it’s believablity.
Bless your heart in thinking this is fake story when I have documentation over this at my workplace I needed to submit. I bet you also think that the Holocaust didn’t happen.
What a response to that idiot. Pretty sure @CHRIS only tries to start stuff in the comments just like when Random Gawande/Alert/Aaron were around
“Gemrany” Matthew? Really? Do you take any time at all to reflect on what you write????
You just undermined your entire premise.
And here’s Antwerp chiming in to call our government the fascists again. You really can’t make this sh*t up. Keep the ignorance coming boys….
This site is worth the clicks in ways some advertisers are not gonna be happy with.
Cairns are you talking to your mirror again?
Maryland you again have nothing….typical.
“I remember being so thankful that my own country, the USA, was not a corrupt nation, but a nation of law and order.”
=》You have a lot of humour and self-derision, I love it!
Is this what Trump meant when he said, “it’s a great time to get rich!” yesterday?
If you’re going to break the law, you need to be smart enough to minimise your chances of being caught. Large, unexplained cash deposits into US bank accounts was not smart. Committing your crimes in front of high-tech border surveillance equipment was not smart. Attempting to smuggle huge amounts of cash across the border was not smart. It’s no wonder they got caught, but hey… CBP operations staff aren’t recruited from Ivy League schools.
Yes. One committing such a crime in front of Noem should fear being dragged into the gravel pit like the puppy cricket.
Eh, Cricket was a failure as a farm dog and was therefore dealt-with in the appropriate, time-honored manner. It was a dog, not a human.
Cricket was supposed to be a bird dog. Still a puppy peed on the carpet and was dragged to the gravel pit to be shot in front of others. Guess Noem never understood re-homing an animal. Or the facial collagen affected her judgement.
There’s Pete again… recruited from an Ivy League School of course.
The empathy of liberals is amazing…or frightening.
Depending on your perspective.
If we’re going to get Old Testament on their ass they should be put to death.
An admirable sentiment but perhaps a bit harsh.
These crooks need to learn that if you’re doing the $100 Vegas Hotel Trick then you gotta be smart about what you do with the money. For example gold is compact, discrete, and redeemable at lots of places at a later date.
Firing the managers who selected them might be a step too far, but there should at least be some kind of enquiry in order to find out how they ended up employing idiots like that. You’ll always have some who choose to act in a corrupt manner (and no doubt some people do it as a high-risk attempt at ‘addressing’ crippling debts/expensive health issues/gambling losses etc), but someone receiving bribes into a personal bank account while working for the government of the country where the account’s held is terminally stupid and should’ve never been appointed due to their astonishing lack of common sense.
But first flog them I say.
Heartily.
And then send them to Christmas Island.
We know what to do with illegal immigrants.
The expression is “eye-raising”, not “eye-racing”.
it’s eyeBROW-raising. How do you “raise” an eye other than via cosmetic surgery? If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you’ll have developed a Matthew-to-English translation tool. Proofreading is not a priority here.
DHS Barbie (Noem) really loves her third-rate wannabe marketing/modeling shots.