The U.S. Department of Justice announced that a Laredo man has been charged in connection with an attempted human smuggling incident in which more than 100 illegal immigrants were found in a locked trailer.
Juan Manuel Aguirre, 49, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, is charged with three counts of conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants within the United States and transportation of illegal immigrants within the United States for financial gain. has been charged with a crime. Hamdani said in a news release Monday.
Hamdani said a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with transporting and/or smuggling large groups of illegal immigrants in tractor-trailers.
The first criminal complaint filed in the case states that on Dec. 2, law enforcement officers observed people getting into trailers in the warehouse’s parking lot.
Authorities conducted a traffic stop as a white truck pulling a trailer left the scene.
The search found 101 illegal immigrants trapped inside the trailer, including 12 unaccompanied children, according to the complaint. Two of the migrants said conditions inside the trailer made it difficult for them to breathe and that they feared for their lives, according to the indictment.
If convicted, Mr. Aguirre faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the three charges.
Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Border Patrol conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Webb County Sheriff’s Office. .
Officials say the operation targets the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling is prosecuting the case.
