TUCSON - A Phoenix woman was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison for trying to smuggle two Mexican children into the United States by pretending they were hers.
Brenda Aguirre, 25, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.
Aguirre pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to conspiring to transport illegal aliens, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix.
The statement said she tried to enter the United States through the border crossing at Douglas on April 2 with the children, ages 3 and 5. She claimed the children were hers and that they were both U.S. citizens.
But officials determined the children were Mexican and that Aguirre was to receive $500 for bringing them across the border.
Aguirre is scheduled to begin serving her sentence next month.
