A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer is facing federal criminal charges over allegations he harbored an immigrant who officials say is in the country illegally and is also the officer’s girlfriend and niece.
The Justice Department alleges that CBP officer and supervisor Andres Wilkinson was living in Laredo, Texas, with a woman who had overstayed her visa and is now in the U.S. illegally. The woman entered the U.S. on a temporary visa in August 2023, according to the criminal complaint filed earlier this month.
Wilkinson allegedly provided her “financial support, including housing, credit cards, assistance with financial obligations and access to vehicle,” the Justice Department said. The criminal complaint states they traveled together through Border Patrol checkpoints near the Texas border.
The Justice Department said Wilkinson was “aware of her unlawful immigration status yet maintained a romantic relationship with her.”
According to the complaint, officials collected information “indicating” that the woman is actually Wilkinson’s niece, and that she’s married to another man. But the complaint also says that her husband, who had filed a green card application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on her behalf in January 2024, canceled the petition in April 2025. A month later, the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility observed Wilkinson, the woman and her daughter together and investigated their relationship for months.
CBP OPR investigators found that the woman was the daughter of a man named J. Santos Garcia-Moreno, whom Wilkinson had listed as his brother in his 2023 background investigation. And when CBP OPR detained the woman in February 2026, she admitted she had been living with Wilkinson since August 2024.
CBS News reached out to an attorney listed as Wilkinson’s lawyer and has yet to hear back. CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If convicted, Wilkinson, 52, could face up to 10 years in prison and potentially a $250,000 fine, the Justice Department said. He made an initial appearance and remains in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, officials said.
Wilkinson has been with CBP for almost 25 years and was promoted in 2021 to a supervisory role, where his duties included overseeing the enforcement of immigration laws, according to the Justice Department.
