TEXAS
Law enforcement officials and prosecutors on Tuesday announced the disruption and dismantling of a human smuggling operation in Texas and across the Southern United States, officials stated.
The operation, a part of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), included the arrest of eight alleged human smugglers whose indictments were unsealed in Texas federal court.
“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 B. 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.”
Erminia Serrano Piedra aka Irma, and Boss Lady, 31, led the human smuggling operation.
Other defendants include 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.
All were arrested in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
According to the indictment, they facilitated the unlawful transportation and movement of migrants within the United States in deplorable conditions for profit.
The migrants were allegedly citizens of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.
The migrants or their families allegedly paid members of the human smuggling organization to help them travel illegally to and within the United States.
To read the entire indictment, click here: DOJ
According to the indictment, the criminal 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.
They allegedly harbored the migrants at “stash houses” along the way in locations such as Laredo and Austin, Texas.
Drivers allegedly used various methods to transport migrants, including by hiding them in suitcases placed in pickup trucks and cramming migrants in the back of tractor-trailers, covered beds of pickup trucks, repurposed water tankers, or wooden crates strapped to flatbed trailers.
The human smuggling organization allegedly used methods to transport migrants that placed their lives in danger as they were frequently held in contained spaces with little ventilation, no temperature control and in conditions that placed them at great risk.
Drivers for the organization were allegedly paid as much as $2,500 for each migrant they unlawfully transported.
The indictment also notices the criminal forfeiture of three properties as well as money judgments amounting to $2.2 million.
“Sadly, this case is an example of what we see in our district, too many times, especially in our border communities,” said U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery for the Southern District of Texas. “Our Laredo office works continuously with our valued partners to bring to justice those who allegedly put profits ahead of everything else. No amount of money should be a substitute for human life.”
“Human smugglers are criminals who do not care about human life,” said Deputy Commissioner Troy Miller of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “They lie to make money, convincing vulnerable migrants to hand over what is often their life savings in exchange for empty promises to get to the United States. Smugglers regularly abandon migrants in the desert or mountains with no food or water, leaving them for dead. 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.”
The indictments against these defendants were brought under JTFA. Attorney General Garland created JTFA in June 2021, in partnership with DHS, to strengthen the department’s overall efforts to combat the dangerous rise in human smuggling emanating from Central America and impacting our border communities.
JTFA’s goal is to disrupt and dismantle those human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with a focus on networks that endanger, abuse or exploit migrants, present national security risks or engage in other types of transnational organized crime.