ICE assists Brazil in the arrests of 10 human smugglers

BRASILIA, Brazil – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assists Brazil Federal Police (PF) in the arrests of ten high-profile targets in Brazil, including several current and former local politicians, who are part of transnational criminal organizations involved in human smuggling.

On Dec. 3, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Brasilia collaborated with the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in a PF-led enforcement operation as part of Operation Tree of Lies, a parallel initiative to Brazil’s Operation Cai Cai, in Minas Gerais and other locations throughout Brazil.

The operation resulted in 21 search and seizure warrants and 10 arrests, to include the arrest of a prolific Minas Gerais-based human smuggler and his close associates who are alleged to be responsible for facilitating the travel of a Brazilian citizen who was found drowned in the Rio Grande river near El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 11.

In addition to the arrests, nine vehicles and bulk quantities of valuable stones and cash were also seized as alleged criminal activity proceeds.

Operation Tree of Lies and Operation Cai Cai is a joint effort by the Government of Brazil and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to combat human smuggling and identity fraud cells that exploit the immigration systems of the U.S. and Brazil by organizing and facilitating the travel of Brazilians posing as family units utilizing legitimate and/or illegitimate travel documents to the U.S.

The operation follows PF’s execution of five search and seizure warrants on Nov. 30 in Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil as part of the joint human smuggling investigation targeting an organization alleged to have smuggled over 500 Brazilian nationals to the U.S. Southwest border.

“This joint enforcement action resulted in the arrest of transnational organized crime members who profit off of inhumane treatment and illegal movement of vulnerable individuals,” said ICE Attaché for Brasilia and Bolivia, Robert Fuentes, Jr. “The migrants who are smuggled across our borders were under serious risks, faced inhuman conditions, and were subjected to guides called coyotes, who are armed criminals responsible for these risky border crossing routes. Thanks to our strong partnership with the Brazil Federal Police and our partnering U.S. agencies, we were able to apprehend high-profile targets and put a dent into the criminal organizations responsible.”

ICE Brasilia initiated Operation Tree of Lies in May 2019 after receiving information from DHS Joint Task Force-West (JTF-W) that Brazilian migrants were presenting themselves as family units to DHS officials along the U.S. Southwest border.

Corroborating with PF, ICE Brasilia determined that the Brazil passports presented to DHS officials were attained under pretenses with fraudulent identities.

This further led ICE Brasilia, JTF-W, and the PF to identify over 286 materially false Brazilian passports presented to DHS officials.

As a recent example, 10 adults and nine minors traveling from Brazil to Mexico, destined for the U.S., were interviewed in-depth by PF.

Although the passports were legitimate, the identity documents to obtain the passports were fraudulent and were created to simulate a family unit.

It was later identified that the travel documents and the transportation were provided by a major transnational criminal organization in Brazil.

PF arrested the 10 adults for the use of fraudulent documents, and the nine rescued victims were transferred to the care of Brazil social services.