Human smuggler from Mexico extradited to face charges in US

By Yoshita Singh
    New York, Feb 26 (PTI) A notorious human smuggler who operated at the US-Mexico border and conspired with others to enable illegal entry of migrants into America from countries including India has been extradited from Mexico to face charges in the US.
    Raul Saucedo-Huipio, 49, was arrested in Mexico in March 2023 and was surrendered by Mexico to US authorities last week to face charges filed in the District of Arizona. 
    Saucedo-Huipio made his initial appearance on February 21 in the Southern District of California. His co-conspirator, Ofelia Hernandez-Salas, 62, was extradited to the US from Mexico in 2023 and pleaded guilty in December 2024 to conspiracy to bring an alien to the US and substantive counts of bringing an alien to the United States.
    According to court documents, Saucedo-Huipio conspired with other smugglers, including Hernandez-Salas, “to facilitate the travel of large numbers of migrants into the United States from and through Bangladesh, Yemen, Pakistan, Eritrea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Russia, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico,” a statement by the US Department of Justice said.
    Saucedo-Huipio and Hernandez-Salas allegedly charged the migrants as much as tens of thousands of dollars to make the journey and directed the migrants where to unlawfully cross the border into the United States, including by providing them with a ladder to climb over the border fence.
    Saucedo-Huipio and co-conspirators also allegedly robbed the migrants of money and personal belongings while armed with guns and knives.
    The statement said that the indictments against Saucedo-Huipio and Hernandez-Salas, and their subsequent arrests and extraditions, were coordinated through Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), whose goal is to disrupt and dismantle 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. 
    To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in over 355 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of human smuggling; more than 300 US convictions; more than 245 significant jail sentences imposed; and forfeitures of substantial assets.
    In his second term in the White House, President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and his administration has deported those who entered the country illegally through flights, including to Colombia and India.
    A New York Times report said that this month, the Trump administration sent three military planes carrying about 300 migrants — mostly from Asia and the Middle East — to Panama.
    "Days later, a flight carrying 135 people, nearly half of them children and including dozens of people from China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, landed in Costa Rica,” it said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)