Major enforcement operation in Guatemala secures arrest of human smuggler
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday, they had secured the arrest of a prolific human smuggler in Guatemala, thanks to a successful investigative collaboration between the DOJ and Guatemalan authorities.
Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco was arrested by Guatemalan authorities at the request of the U.S., and has been indicted in the Western District of Texas in connection to the investigation.
Miranda-Orozco was part of an extensive human smuggling network based in Guatemala. Six other individuals were also arrested by Guatemalan law enforcement, and will be charged for their part in the operation.
According to the DOJ, in June of 2022 the network smuggled people over the southern border in a tractor–trailer near San Antonio, Texas, in sweltering heat which resulted in the deaths of 53 migrants, including 21 Guatemalan nationals. Children and pregnant women were among the dead.
The investigation was part of Joint Task Force Alpha, created in June 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, and executed through the Department of Homeland Security.
Miranda-Orozco allegedly conspired with other human smugglers to facilitate the journey of four migrants from Guatemala through Mexico, and into the U.S. He was paid up to $15,000 for each migrant. Three of the four migrants perished in the tractor-trailer, and the other had serious injuries.
Garland said in the news release, the DOJ and Guatemalan authorities have arrested 14 people connected with the human smuggling network.
“Over the past two years, the Justice Department has worked methodically to hold accountable those responsible for the horrific tragedy in San Antonio that killed 53 people who had been preyed on by human smugglers. With these arrests, the Justice Department and our partners in Guatemala have now arrested a total of 14 people for their alleged involvement in this tragedy. We are committed to continuing to work with our partners both in the United States and abroad to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama,” Garland said in a statement.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in the news release the deaths of the migrants in the tractor-trailer should be a warning to those who want to smuggle people, and those considering entering the U.S. illegally.
“As alleged in the indictment, Miranda-Orozco recruited some of the migrants who died in the back of a tractor-trailer near San Antonio, Texas, in June 2022, and worked with a network of smugglers to transport them from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States. This tragedy is a dire warning of the dangers that human smugglers cause by exposing migrants to life-threatening conditions for the smugglers’ financial gain. Dismantling human smuggling networks is a critical priority for the Criminal Division, and we will continue to work with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute these cases, no matter where the offenders may be found,” Argentieri said in the statement.
According to a May 2024 report from the House Committee on Homeland Security, it is projected there will be around 10 million illegal migrant encounters in total since January 2021 when President Biden took office, and the end of 2024’s fiscal year.
In December 2023, the committee published another report detailing how Mexican cartels are making historic profits, collecting $13 billion in 2021 alone, further noting the migrant crisis has escalated in the subsequent years since then.
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