Mexican citizen sentenced to 87 months for global human smuggling operation

A Mexican citizen has been sentenced to 87 months in prison for his role in a human smuggling operation that brought hundreds of illegal migrants into the U.S. from Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, charging them as much as tens of thousands of dollars to illegally cross the Mexico-U.S. border.

The defendant, Raul Saucedo-Huipio, 51, of Mexicali, Mexico, a manager in the extensive smuggling operation, was sentenced Monday. He and his co-conspirators facilitated the illegal journey of more than 200 migrants from and through various countries into the U.S. from 2018 to 2022, though the actual number may be higher, according to a Justice Department.

The migrants traveled from and through such countries as Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Guatemala, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru and Russia before reaching the U.S., the DOJ also said.

“Human smuggling is not a victimless crime,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva, of the department’s Criminal Division. “This criminal organization not only moved aliens across the border; it stole from them and left them in desperate situations.”

Saucedo-Huipio and his co-conspirators helped the migrants to enter the U.S.-Mexico border through such ways and means as providing a ladder to climb over a fence, pointing to holes in the fence through which to crawl and providing a plank for waterway crossings. 

He also oversaw a smuggling mission in which three small children crossed a wooden plank lying on top of a body of water, and he and his co-conspirators were often armed with guns and knives and robbed their migrant customers of money, cell phones, and other belongings. 

In March 2023, Saucedo-Huipio was arrested in Mexico with an extradition request from the United States. Three years later, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring illegal migrants to the U.S.

The investigation was led in part by Joint Task Force Alpha, the top division within the DOJ on fighting high-impact human smuggling and trafficking by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations. The task force works in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security. 

To date, JFTA has reportedly made more than 458 arrests domestically and internationally of leaders, organizers and facilitators of alien smuggling and trafficking.