By james art Two human smugglers linked to a Mexican cartel have been sentenced to federal prison, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said Wednesday.
Laredo resident Francisco Suarez, 20, and Luis Daniel Segura Guzmán, 26, a Mexican national living in Laredo, were sentenced for their roles in an extensive human-smuggling conspiracy involving the Del Noreste Cartel, Hamdani said.
Suarez pleaded guilty on Dec. 20, 2023, and Segura Guzman pleaded guilty on Jan. 18, officials said.
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña sentenced Suarez to 33 months in federal prison and Segura Guzman to 30 months. Once released from prison, they must serve three years of supervised release.
Because Segura Guzman is not a US citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings once he is released from prison.
The judge’s hearing was told that Suarez and Segura Guzman were part of the Los Fantasmas gang, which authorities say works with Mexican cartels in human smuggling.
Saldaña imposed sentencing enhancements that held each responsible for the smuggling of at least 100 undocumented immigrants or more. The judge said they were both “committed to this lifestyle” and noted the importance of a sentence to deter them from resuming people smuggling in the future.
Accomplice Bernardo Aniceto Garza, 27, Laredo, also pleaded guilty in the case and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 4, the news release said.
Authorities were alerted to the human smuggling operation on August 23, 2023, when they discovered a Facebook post that appeared to advertise transportation services for undocumented immigrants via sleeper cabs on tractor trailers.
Investigators determined that Segura Guzman coordinated the transportation of three undocumented immigrants for about $8,000 and arranged for Garza to pick them up in a black Ford Raptor in Laredo that afternoon.
Authorities saw a black Ford Raptor arrive at the meeting location, with Garza driving.
Undercover law enforcement contacted Segura Guzman to cancel the prearranged pickup. Garza left and went to a nearby parking lot to pick up three other individuals and transport them to the truck parking lot and load them into a parked tractor.
Authorities stopped Garza’s vehicle minutes after he left the truck parking lot and found a firearm in the Ford Raptor.
Authorities approached the semi and found two females and a 15-year-old inside the vehicle. They were citizens of Mexico and El Salvador and were in the United States illegally, authorities said.
On September 16, 2023, authorities encountered Segura Guzmán in Laredo and identified him as a Mexican national residing illegally in the United States. Segura Guzman admitted that the cartel recruited him to Mexico to smuggle undocumented immigrants and that he worked with Suarez to do so. Authorities found Segura Guzmán had a cell phone that was still logged into the Facebook account used to advertise and coordinate the August people-smuggling case.
Suarez was a scout in another smuggling attempt on September 19, 2023, when authorities arrested him. He admitted working for Segura Guzmán and providing him with the three migrants authorities caught Garza transporting. Investigators also identified Suarez as the operator of a shelter that housed undocumented immigrants.
An analysis of Segura Guzmán’s phone revealed that he was involved in the smuggling of at least 133 undocumented migrants. Reports and data establish that his smuggling activity dates back to May 2020.
The phone also had other detailed information, including photos and identifying information of suspected migrants, screenshots of smuggling channels and deposit slips for people-smuggling payments.
Authorities found similar information on Suarez’s cellphone dating back to September 2022, which included photos of approximately 300 people, including children, who had been smuggled across the border.
“The Cartel del Noreste, a Mexican cartel, is known for engaging in ruthless acts of violence and extortion to support its drug trafficking operations, and in recent years has added human smuggling to its list of illegal money-making operations. with Facebook and social media becoming invaluable tools to facilitate the new venture,” Hamdani said in the press release. “CDNs use these platforms to recruit, coordinate and expand their criminal operations, reaching a wider audience while putting countless lives at risk. For years, Suarez and Guzman used Facebook to exploit and profit from vulnerable individuals while avoiding detection, but thanks to the efforts of my office, those days are over.”
The men will remain in custody pending later transfer to a US Bureau of Prisons facility.
Homeland Security Investigations, the Laredo Police Department and the Border Patrol conducted an investigation by the Organized Crime Task Force with assistance from Customs and Border Protection, Air and Sea and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The effort targets the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutorial-led, intelligence-led, multi-agency approach.
This conviction is also the result of the coordinated efforts of Joint Task Force Alpha. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland created the task force in June 2021 to crack down on dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The initiative was expanded to Colombia and Panama to target people smuggling in the Darién Gap in June 2024.
To date, the Joint Task Force has resulted in more than 325 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of people smuggling, more than 270 US convictions, more than 210 significant prison sentences imposed, and significant asset forfeitures.
Assistant US Attorney and Joint Task Force Alpha officer Jennifer Day prosecuted the case.