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From Breitbart: Two Mexican nationals who were illegally in the United States are largely responsible for building a human smuggling organization that moved almost 2,500 migrants from Central America into the U.S. The duo laundered almost $2.9 million in profits, federal prosecutors revealed, adding that they often kidnapped migrants for ransom.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane held a hearing in McAllen, Texas, this week where he sentenced 37-year-old Luis Enrique Moctezuma Acosta and 34-year-old Scarlett Fuentes Gavarrete to 20 years in federal prison each for their role in leading the human smuggling organization and using a trucking business to launder almost $2.9 million in profits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a prepared statement. The two are Mexican nationals who were living illegally in Mission, Texas, and will face deportation after their sentence is completed.
Both Acosta and Fuentes previously pleaded guilty to multiple human smuggling and money laundering charges.
Federal prosecutors claimed that the South Texas-based organization led by the Acosta and Fuentes spanned from Honduras to Boston and moved 2,459 migrants — primarily individuals from Brazil.
A press release on the Justice Department website includes the following details on the scheme:
At the hearing, the court heard how the organization moved thousands of undocumented aliens in groups of at least 70 by placing them inside containers and drilling them closed from the outside, loading them onto trailers and transporting them on the highway in the hot Texas climate. Diego Flores acted in a leadership capacity within the smuggling organization and had a prior smuggling conviction. The court also considered how the organization utilized multiple firearms to threaten the individuals. Judge Crane noted the complete disregard for the safety of the undocumented people the organization exhibited, expressing that the means and methods of transportation were “inhumane.”
Beginning in April 2022, Diego Flores hired “hot shot” drivers to transport various containers, including wooden boxes, sheds and hay bales on flat-bed trailers further north. If ever intercepted at the Falfurrias Border Patrol (BP) checkpoint, the drivers would minimize culpability on those within the smuggling organization as the drivers were unaware of what they were transporting.
On April 26, 2022, law enforcement intercepted a load of 40 undocumented individuals within wooden boxes. Authorities also found 69 people in compartments in the roofs of two sheds strapped onto flat-bed trailers July 19, 2023. Another interception occurred Aug. 18, 2023, when law enforcement located a load of 28 undocumented aliens hidden in a compartment surrounded by hay bales. Authorities also discovered 36 more hidden within wooden crates loaded on a trailer 11 days later. Then, on Sept. 1, 2023, law enforcement found eight people hidden in a compartment underneath a trailer, between it and the road.
On each occasion, authorities spoke to those recovered and uncovered the large-scale smuggling organization.
Those in the conspiracy utilized a ranch property in Mission to build the compartments in which to transport undocumented individuals. On every occasion, the conspirators instructed the aliens to get inside and drilled the containers closed, offering them no means of escape. The conspirators then drove the trailer loaded with containers to meet the “hot shot” driver who would further transport the trailer north. Authorities executed a search warrant on Sept. 5, 2023, on the ranch property and recovered three firearms.
“Hot shot” smuggling organization heading to prison for illegally transporting thousands#humansmuggling #McAllenTX https://t.co/9Et6FI2Oys pic.twitter.com/SiPow07pDA
— US Attorney SDTX (@USAO_SDTX) July 31, 2024
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