U.S. authorities are conducting a search for Verónica Roblero Pivaral, a 25-year-old Mexican woman accused of leading an organization that trafficked thousands of migrants from multiple countries into the United States along with her husband.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) filed charges against Roblero Pivaral and her husband, Abdul Karim Conteh, a 42-year-old citizen of Sierra Leone, who was arrested on on July 11 in Tijuana, Mexico, and indicted last week. Roblero Pivaralis still at large and faces search and arrest warrants, the DoJ noted.
According to the indictment, Conteh's organization allegedly smuggled thousands of migrants to the United States through Mexico. The migrants mostly hailed from countries across the Atlantic, including Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Somalia, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
The migrants paid smuggling fees, often tens of thousands of dollars to be transported through various countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, on the way to the U.S.-Mexico border.
"This arrest unravels a global web of coordinated human smuggling into the United States," said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath for the Southern District of California. "Even the most far-reaching, prolific networks cannot evade justice."
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized that the Biden administration is working with other governments to combat this crime as part of efforts to curb irregular migration:
"Human smugglers exploit the vulnerable for profit. Along with our partners across this Administration and around the world, we are bringing the full force of the law to bear against the individuals and their organizations that perpetrate this heinous crime. We couple our unrelenting efforts with this warning to would-be migrants everywhere: do not believe the smuggler's lies and risk your lives in their ruthless hands."
If convicted, both Conteh and Roblero face up to 10 years in prison. Conteh is also accused of the unlawful smuggling of migrants for financial gain, which carries a minimum of three years in prison for the first two offences, while further convictions could reach a 15 year maximum.
Conteh also allegedly "oversaw the migrants' unlawful entry into the United States by various surreptitious and unlawful means, including the use of ladders and tunnels."
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