News Releases and Statements

Joseph Alex Hernandez, 27, of Austin, was sentenced on April 4 to 192 months for transporting noncitizens resulting in death and 120 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The two sentences will run concurrently. Hernandez pleaded guilty Oct. 23, 2023.

Dinero Devon Washington, 46, of Phoenix, further pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport noncitizens on Sept. 7, 2023.

Carl Stephen Smith Jr., 33, of Green Cove Springs, faces a minimum mandatory penalty of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison. Smith has remained in custody since his arrest on Jan. 31, 2023.

Fredi Zagala-Servin, 40, of Kaufman, was sentenced Feb. 7 to 97 months in prison for being a longtime leader and organizer of a human smuggling organization that smuggled hundreds of undocumented noncitizens from Laredo to San Antonio inside semitractor-trailers.

According to court documents, Armando Leonardo Moreno aka Cholo, conspired with other TCO members on or around Sept. 13, 2021, to kidnap a subject from an El Paso stash house.

ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, met with Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares, at the Washington D.C.-based DHS CCHT today.

According to court documents, Gregory Massey, 30, and his girlfriend and co-defendant Patricia Hart, forced two adult victims to engage in commercial sex in different locations during 2021 and 2022.

Nathanael Alley Rivera, 23, of Eloy, pleaded guilty on Sept. 6, 2023, to conspiracy charges related to his supervisory role in transporting hundreds of undocumented noncitizens for financial gain. During the first months of the conspiracy, Rivera was on probation for a previous human smuggling conviction.

Veronica Pech, 57, of Ridgecrest, California, was sentenced Jan. 29 to 76 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for operating several stash houses in Del Rio and facilitating harboring and transportation of noncitizens.

Sentencing for Maria Mendoza-Mendoza aka “La Guera,” 51, of Honduras, is scheduled for April 2 before U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.

The Center for Healthy Communities invited HSI Baltimore and other experts, activists and local leaders to take part in the fourth annual Anti-Human Trafficking Conference at the Salisbury University campus.

According to court documents, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce aka Rrili aka Rilay, 31, was a member of the human smuggling organization responsible for the failed smuggling attempt that brought adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico into the United States.

Gilbert John Montez, 24, of Edinburg, was sentenced Jan. 16 to 200 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, the judge noted that when an individual is involved in a criminal enterprise, he can be held accountable for the actions of all the participants involved.

Each year, HSI, in conjunction with the DHS Blue Campaign, raises awareness to prevent human trafficking, conducts outreach to the public via the media and nongovernmental organizations.

Frederick Sayre Anderson, 63, of Parkersburg, pleaded guilty Jan.9 to concealing, harboring and shielding a noncitizen from detection.

Paz Gomez-Magdaleno, a 43-year-old resident of Cameron County, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 60, 120 and 240 months for the transportation of undocumented noncitizens, possession of child pornography, and enticement of a minor, respectively.

Tenorio pleaded guilty on Aug. 8, 2023, admitting that he transported two of his victims from California to Arizona and Texas for the purpose of offering them for commercial sex for his own financial gain.

According to court documents, Erminia Serrano Piedra aka Irma aka Boss Lady, 32, conspired with at least 14 other members of a human smuggling organization she led that facilitated the unlawful transportation and movement of hundreds of migrants within the United States and harbored and concealed the migrants from law enforcement authorities.

Ericka Aldana, 40, of Chula Vista, confirmed that she recruited at least five drivers, procured vehicles for their use, obtained passports for them, and coached them on how to dress and answer questions from CBP officers.

According to court documents, Guadalupe Quezada, 35, of Mesa, Arizona, along with co-defendants Veronica Quezada, 39, also of Mesa, and Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, of Dallas, actively participated in an ongoing conspiracy to bring in, transport and harbor undocumented immigrants into the United States from Mexico from on or about November 2019 through on or about August 2021.

The captain and co-captain of a boat that capsized off Imperial Beach during a 2022 smuggling incident, resulting in three deaths, were sentenced in federal court Dec. 14 to 54 and 50 months in prison, respectively.

ERO Harlingen removed Juan Carlos Pena Escobar, 46, a citizen of El Salvador with a final order of removal, to El Salvador via an ICE Air Operations charter aircraft.

On Nov.29, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned an 11-count indictment against Jorge Damian Roman-Figueroa, Luis Eduardo Roman-Flores, Manuel Jose Bernal, Joel Salazar-Ballesteros and Jesus Armando Gonzalez-Villela, citizens of Mexico, for conspiracy to transport aliens; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; conspiracy to distribute marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The annual multijurisdictional operation, which concluded on Nov. 30, works to combat human trafficking through targeted enforcement using undercover officers to arrest potential traffickers and offering support to survivors. As a result of the multiday operation, 12 people were offered support services and two arrests were made.

Wilmer Rivera-Hernandez, a 33-year-old unlawfully present Honduran national, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 50 years in prison following his conviction on Aug. 24 for interstate travel with intent to engage in a sex act with a minor.