Updated at 4:57 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 spokesperson said federal 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 February 19 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.
De La Cruz pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Thursday afternoon before Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss. He was ordered held in custody pending another hearing next week.
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 to transport 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.
Two other defendants, whose names remain sealed, are also facing the same charges, according to federal prosecutors. The court documents are related to the findings of a grand jury and a prosecutor’s motion for detention.
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. Many more that number returned to the courthouse later Thursday to support De La Cruz during his arraignment.
After the hearing, members of Migrant Justice spoke to the crowd gathered outside and pledged support for De La Cruz.
“We know what the headlines are going to look like,” Will Lambek, a spokesperson for the group, said into a bullhorn. “We know that by putting these criminal charges against him, they’re going to try to scare people. But let’s not be confused, let’s not get turned around on this. He is a member of the community, he deserves his freedom and we’re standing by him.”
De La Cruz’s partner, Rossy, also spoke to the crowd between tears. She and De La Cruz have a 4-year-old son. Heidi Perez, De La Cruz’s stepdaughter, was also present.
“This is a huge injustice, it feels like a nightmare, like something that’s not real,” Rossy said to the crowd in Spanish. “I just went through this a few months ago, and now I’m experiencing it again, feeling the same pain.”
“All I know is that wherever Nacho is, he knows he isn’t alone,” she said. “That his family, the community, and all of us are with him.”
De La Cruz faces up to 15 years of imprisonment if convicted and a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 years, according to federal prosecutors.
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