News Releases and Statements

Mexican nationals Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 30, and Jesus Juan Rodriguez Leyva, 36, believed to be involved in the smuggling event were taken into custody at the time of the incident. They have been charged with bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection thwarted an attempted smuggling incident with an unaccompanied alien child in Yuma April 29. U.S. border officials apprehended a woman attempting to smuggle a 5-year-old boy — identified as “John Doe” in the legal complaint — after the child’s mother allegedly paid a smuggler to transport him illegally into the United States.

Mailon Almendares-Martinez, a 21-year-old resident of New Orleans, was convicted of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens April 30 for his role in a botched human smuggling attempt that resulted in two of the aliens being shot by suspected rival smugglers.

According to court records, between July 7, 2022, and March 21, 2023, Jose Luis Avalos, 42, the leader of the organization and the final defendant to plead in the case, along with co-conspirators and his wife, Kristina Hardin, coordinated the illegal transportation and harboring of illegal aliens throughout New Mexico.

A federal grand jury indicted an illegal alien, April 17, for his alleged role in smuggling an unaccompanied alien child to the United States and for allegedly submitting a sponsorship application with false statements to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement to gain custody of the minor after she entered the United States, following an ICE, FBI, investigation.

ICE removed Wilver Cota-Ortiz, 43, a citizen of El Salvador, to his home country where he is wanted by law enforcement authorities for human trafficking.

ICE HSI Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Murphy and acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker announced that on April 2, a federal grand jury for the Eastern District of Washington returned an indictment charging Jonathan Michael Atkinson, age 34, with 11 criminal counts including Sex Trafficking Children, Production and Attempted Production of Child Pornography, Online Enticement of a Minor, and Forced Labor, following an ICE HSI, law enforcement partner investigation.

Greiby Melissa Barcelo-Velasquez was sentenced March 25 to 30 months in prison for her role in smuggling over 100 Colombians into the United States.

According to court documents, Humberto Yosvany Arriola-Rivero, 30, assisted in the harboring of illegal aliens and managed a stash house in El Paso. He also was an occupant in a vehicle that fled law enforcement that was transporting more than a dozen illegal aliens in April 2023.

John Washburn, general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon, and three employees, made their first appearances in federal court March 28 to face immigration charges stemming from a search warrant that was served by federal agents at the property March 27.

Steven Beltran-Lugo, of Glendale, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit placing in jeopardy the life of any person and resulting in death on Oct. 1, 2024.

Flavio Alexandre Alves, also known as “Ronaldo,” 41, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Worcester on a criminal complaint charging him with conspiracy to bring aliens to and transport aliens within the United States for the purpose of commercial or financial gain in violation of law.

A illegal Salvadoran alien, identified as Juan Alonso Barrientos-Quintanilla, 23, was sentenced March 25 by a federal judge to serve 120 months in prison for his role in a deadly 2021 human smuggling operation.

Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, also known as Cholo, Chuequito, and Negro and Armando Gonzalez-Ortega, 55, also known as El Don and Don Gon were found guilty by a jury for their roles in the mass casualty alien smuggling event.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement joined the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in announcing sanctions against Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez, a prominent leader of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization, March 18.

Sushil Kumar, 35, and three others were indicted in connection with a scheme to smuggle illegal aliens across the northern border for profit. The group was connected to two smuggling episodes in November and December 2023.

Tian Tao, 54, a citizen of China, was arrested by Rockland Police and ICE for sex trafficking violations and entered ICE custody Feb. 20.

Tyree Eugene Rideaux, 31, of Henderson, Nevada, was sentenced, Feb. 25, to 132 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, and subject to registering as lifetime sex offender due to an investigation conducted by ICE, HSI with significant assistance provided by the Mesa Police Department.

Last week, a grand jury returned an indictment against Edgar Guadalupe Jimenez-Aguilar, an illegal alien living in Phoenix, for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and possession with intent to distribute heroin.

Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul aka Turko, 51, of the Westlake neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles, was arrested Feb. 28 with his alleged right-hand man, Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, 49, also of the Westlake neighborhood.

Jovanna Netzay Diaz, 31, from Dallas, is expected to make her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver in Dallas. She will then be expected in Laredo federal court shortly thereafter.

ICE HSI Laredo agents and LEOs intercepted a human smuggling operation, discovered 8 illegal Mexican nationals locked in compartments of a utility truck. This operation highlights our commitment to dismantling criminal networks.

Eusebio Cavazos, a 33-year-old resident of Alamo, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to transporting aliens into or within the U.S. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 15 and faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 possible fine.

Jesus Ortiz-Plata, 46, of Independence, Oregon was arrested May 23, 2024, in Everett, Washington, with aliens who had been smuggled into the United States from Canada.

An ICE investigation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation led to a four-count indictment which was unsealed in the Middle District of Tennessee charging eight defendants, with ties to the Tren da Aragua (TdA) gang, with various offenses stemming from their involvement with a transnational commercial sex enterprise.