A 28-year-old Corpus Christi man was arrested on October 6 after Border Patrol agents stopped a speedboat he was piloting near Port Mansfield, Texas, and found three illegal aliens hidden aboard alongside an AR-style rifle, a pistol, and four pipe bombs.
Alec Ray Foss now faces federal charges for transporting illegal aliens, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The operation began when the Port Mansfield Police Department tipped off Border Patrol agents that three people had boarded a speedboat-style vessel at the docks after stepping out of a nearby vehicle. Agents watched the boat head north along the Intracoastal Waterway, and a law enforcement aircraft later spotted it roughly 20 miles south of Corpus Christi. Agents recognized the vessel as one Foss had piloted before, as part of an ongoing investigation into him. Within hours, agents tracked the boat down at Bluff Landing.
As agents moved in, Foss was in the process of loading the vessel onto a trailer. According to the complaint, he unlatched the vehicle from the trailer, jumped back on the boat, and tried to start the engine before agents ordered him to stop and get off. He complied and was detained.
Foss waived his rights and told agents there were three people aboard. Agents searched the vessel and found three men concealed inside the cabin and in an under-seat compartment, all of whom were in the country illegally. The search also turned up a handgun in a bag, an AR-style rifle loaded with a drum magazine, and four suspected pipe bombs.
Court documents say Foss told investigators he expected to be paid $3,000 in cash for each migrant once he delivered them to Houston. The three men were identified as two Ecuadorian citizens and one Guatemalan national.
Not His First Arrest
A detention memo filed with the court shows this isn’t Foss’s first run-in with smuggling charges. In 2023, Zapata County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him during a vehicle stop in South Texas after finding three illegal aliens concealed behind the seat and in the trunk. The U.S. Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped those charges.
The ATF is now investigating the pipe bombs found on the boat. Agents executed a search warrant at Foss’s residence on October 8 and seized five firearms, 3,500 rounds of ammunition, and materials used to build pipe bombs.
If convicted of transporting illegal aliens with life endangerment, Foss faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
