Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that eight alleged human smugglers were arrested and indicted, and nearly $2.3 million was seized, through an operation monitoring the southern border.
According to a release on Sept. 13 by the U.S. Department of Justice, the department and its partners dismantled a “prolific human smuggling operation” not only in Texas, but across the southern border of the country. The operation was part of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), and the indictments were unsealed that day by the Southern District of Texas.
“Over a year ago, we launched Joint Task Force Alpha to strengthen our efforts across government to dismantle the most dangerous human smuggling and trafficking networks,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The charges announced today are just the latest example of these efforts’ success. The Justice Department will continue to bring our full resources to bear to combat the human smuggling and trafficking groups that endanger our communities, abuse and exploit migrants and threaten our national security.”
The human smuggling operation was allegedly led by 31-year-old Erminia Serrano Piedra. The other seven arrested included Kevin Daniel Nuber aka Captain, 41; Laura Nuber aka Barbie, 40; Lloyd Bexley, 51; Jeremy Dickens, 45; Katie Ann Garcia aka Guera, 39; Oliveria Piedra-Campuzana, 53; and Pedro Hairo Abrigo, 33.
The arrests were made in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through charges filed in the Southern District of Texas.
The indictment states that they allegedly unlawfully transported migrants in the U.S. in “deplorable conditions for profit.” It is alleged that the migrants were citizens of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. Their families allegedly paid members of the organization so they could travel illegally to, and within, the U.S.
The human smuggling organization allegedly “used drivers to pick up migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border and transport them further into the interior of the United States,” housed migrants in “stash houses” when going to places like Laredo and Austin, and “used methods to transport migrants that placed their lives in danger as they were frequently held in contained spaces with little ventilation.”
The indictment said that drivers would hide people in suitcases and crammed migrants in the back of tractor-trailers, covered beds of trucks, repurposed water tankers and other means. Drivers were allegedly paid as much as $2,500 per migrant, the report said. There was also a criminal forfeiture of three properties and money amounting to $2,299,152.40.
“This human smuggling organization operated on an enormous scale, placing a high value on financial profit, while putting migrants’ lives at great risk,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery for the Southern District of Texas said that this is an example of what is seen in her district, and this is especially the case in border communities. She said the Laredo office worries tirelessly to alleviate the problem.
“No amount of money should be a substitute for human life,” Lowery said with Deputy Commissioner Troy Miller of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) adding “human smugglers are criminals who do not care about human life.”
Miller said the smugglers lie to make money while convincing vulnerable migrants to pay their life savings in what ends up being empty promises to get them across the border. He said migrants are often left in the desert or mountains without food and water, which ultimately kills them.
“CBP strives to be flexible, adaptable, and to think outside the box when it comes to disrupting these criminal organizations and protecting migrants from harm,” Miller said.
Acting Deputy Director PJ Lechleitner of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said these arrests are a reminder to smugglers that if they are going to engage in this type of activity, their organization will be exposed, dismantled and justice will be served.
“Transnational criminal organizations often use sophisticated circumvention techniques to facilitate their smuggling and trafficking efforts,” said Lechleitner.“Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) employ a full range of law enforcement techniques and cross-border authorities to combat human smuggling by effectively eliminating profit incentives, seizing assets and maintaining strong collaborative relationships with law enforcement partners across the country and world."
According to CBP, Border Patrol Agents have made more than 2.15 million arrests in the fiscal year to date at the southwest border, with dates ranging October 2021 to September 2022. This number exceeds last year’s total of 1.73 million arrests between October 2020 and September 2021.
In a recent interview with The Austin Journal, Texas Public Policy Foundation Policy Scholar Selene Rodriguez asserted that “Human smuggling is the precursor of human trafficking. People who conspire with human smugglers to illegally enter the United States typically incur in thousands of dollars of debt to make the trip. After entering the country illegally, these same people are often forced to pay off that debt through forced labor and sexual exploitation, which is the essence of the modern-day slavery that is human trafficking.”
