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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervisor is accused of harboring an illegal immigrant he was engaged in a romantic relationship with in his Texas home.
Andres Wilkinson appeared in a federal courtroom this week and was ordered held pending a detention hearing, the Justice Department said.
Wilkinson began working for the CBP in 2001 and was promoted to a supervisory position in 2021, where he oversaw the enforcement of customs and immigration laws.
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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor in Texas has been charged with harboring his illegal immigrant girlfriend. (Getty Images)
At some point, authorities learned that an illegal immigrant, identified in court documents as Elva Edith Garcia-Vallejo, was living at Wilkerson’s Texas home. The pair were engaged in a romantic relationship, federal prosecutors said.
She entered the United States on a non-immigrant visa in August 2023 and later overstayed authorized travel, which expired on Feb. 4, 2024, authorities said.
From June through November 2025, authorities surveilled Wilkinson’s home and observed Garcia-Vallejo living there with Wilkinson and her underage child, according to the charges. Investigators also observed her using vehicles registered to Wilkinson, court documents allege.
Garcia-Vallejo was interviewed by authorities in February.
Federal prosecutors allege she had been living with Wilkerson since August 2024. Wilkinson provided financial support, including housing, credit cards, assistance with financial obligations and access to vehicles registered in his name, prosecutors said.
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Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem and an image of the U.S. Border Patrol patch. (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
He also allegedly transported her through U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints.
Garcia-Vallejo began living in the U.S. with her husband in the border city of Laredo. He petitioned for her to become a legal resident before withdrawing the request in April 2025.
On 14 May 2025, CBP investigators received information from a law enforcement database indicating that Garcia-Vallejo is Wilkinson’s niece, the complaint states. She is the “daughter” of a man whom Wilkinson listed as his brother in his 2023 background investigation, prosecutors said.
“The woman admitted that she had been living with her uncle, SCBPO Wilkinson, since on or about August 2024,” according to the complaint.
Authorities allegedly found a May 2025 document in which Wilkinson confirmed to the Border Region/Behavioral Health Center that Garcia-Vallejo and her daughters had been residing at his home as part of his household since December 7, 2024.
The complaint didn’t make clear whether Wilkinson and Garcia-Vallejo were related by marriage through relatives or by blood.
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Wilkerson faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Digital has reached out to CBP and the Department of Homeland Security.
