A woman who had worked as a contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used her ICE credentials to try to smuggle more than three dozen illegal immigrants deeper into Texas.

Nancy Berenice Fernandez Luna was arrested as she tried to shepherd a charter bus through a Border Patrol checkpoint, flashing her credentials and telling agents she was on a government-funded trip carrying 39 juvenile migrants, all of them with COVID.

But agents said it was clear some of the migrants weren’t kids, and when they probed, they unraveled the scheme.

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Javier Salinas, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, told a judge that Ms. Fernandez Luna worked for MVM Inc., a company that ICE has contracted with to transport migrants from the border.

“She provided her ICE personal identification verification [PIV] contracting card as a means of proof of her authority,” Mr. Salinas said.

MVM said in a statement to The Washington Times that the bus wasn’t chartered by Ms. Fernandez Luna and that she hasn’t been with the company for months.

“Ms. Luna has not worked for MVM in over six months and is no longer employed by MVM,” the private security services company said.

MVM also said Ms. Fernandez Luna faced “extensive third-party and government background checks” before she was hired.

The company did not say why Ms. Fernandez Luna still had her ICE contractor credentials.

Virginia-based MVM has an $827 million contract with ICE to transport unaccompanied alien children and migrant families, according to USASpending.gov.

The Times has sought comment from ICE for this report.

Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the case speaks to how overwhelmed the border is.

“The fact that a person like this would have been employed, even indirectly, by the federal government is troubling — that they don’t seem to be doing enough screening of their employees, and certainly they are not taking the most basic security steps like taking possession of the person’s credentials when they are separated,” Ms. Vaughan said.

She also said it raises questions about the contractors, who have become the backbone of the effort to move migrants deeper into the U.S. and resettle them in American communities.

“DHS has a disturbing track record of hiring contractors who are not qualified to do the job and at worst have turned out to be corrupt, abusive, and receive an enormous amount of taxpayer money to do this job,” Ms. Vaughan said.

Ms. Fernandez Luna’s case is one of the more inventive ways smugglers try to get illegal immigrants across the border and deeper into the U.S. — particularly through the network of Border Patrol checkpoints that act as a secondary border, keeping migrants near the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

The Times has reported on smugglers using ambulances, cars pulled by tow trucks and even a coffin as ways to skirt the scrutiny of checkpoint agents.

Ms. Fernandez Luna’s bus arrived at the checkpoint, in Falfurrias, Texas, on Oct. 4

It was flagged for a secondary inspection and agents were contacting the Border Patrol’s processing facility to check out Ms. Fernandez Luna’s story when the bus doors closed and it drove off, Mr. Salinas said. He said agents tracked it down and brought it back to the checkpoint where they spotted inconsistencies in the story.

The processing facility also reported that it didn’t have any transport buses operating right then.

Two of the illegal immigrants who spoke with agents said they were given hoodies and medical masks to wear during the bus trip. They said Ms. Fernandez Luna told them to pretend to be asleep when they got to the checkpoint to try to stymie any inspection.

One of the migrants also told agents that Ms. Fernandez Luna arranged them with the shortest people up front and the tallest in back to try to make those in the rear look shorter.

Authorities said the bus was driven by Juan Torres Ayala, a Mexican citizen. Ms. Fernandez Luna is American.

Jose Pepe Garza Sr., Ms. Fernandez Luna’s lawyer, said the case is still in its preliminary stages and the information in court documents comes from statements from others.

“We cannot provide any further comments regarding the merits of the case, however, we are in the process of securing her release on pretrial bond,” Mr. Garza told The Washington Times.

The Times has also reached out to Mr. Ayala’s lawyer.

A magistrate judge ordered Mr. Ayala to be detained without bond Tuesday.

Mr. Salinas said Mr. Ayala said he was supposed to be paid $1,800 for driving the bus.

One of the illegal immigrants, a woman from Guatemala, said she was to pay $20,000 for her smuggling trip. Another woman, from Honduras, said she was paying $17,500.