Colombian national Luis Enrique Linero Pinto pleaded guilty in an El Paso federal court to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and placing lives in jeopardy.
Court documents indicate Linero Pinto participated in a scheme to transport individuals attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. He allegedly directed migrants in Colombia to boats bound for Nicaragua so that they could reach the U.S. border and cross illegally. During operations, he reportedly bribed Colombian Navy members to reveal their location so that his boats avoided Navy patrol boats.
Linero Pinto admitted his role in the illegal smuggling operation and the loss of a boat carrying 40 aliens and two captains, which went missing between Colombia and Nicaragua in 2023.
“Linero Pinto played a critical role in a prolific human smuggling conspiracy that used corruption and illicit means of transport to move aliens from Colombia to the United States for money. During the transport, dozens of people disappeared at sea, never to be seen or heard from again,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the DOJ Criminal Division.
According to the Department of Justice, “Linero Pinto was charged in 2024 for conspiring to encourage and induce aliens to come to, enter, and reside in the United States. He was arrested in Colombia in December 2024 at the request of the U.S. government.”
Linero Pinto was later extradited to the U.S.
While a sentencing date is not set, the maximum penalty is 20 years in prison to be decided by a federal district court judge.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case and coordinated with Colombian law enforcement.
“Human smuggling organizations put profit over human life, exploiting vulnerable people and placing them in dangerous, often deadly conditions,” said Ryan G. McRae of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso. “HSI’s mission is to protect the American people and safeguard our borders by dismantling the transnational criminal networks that threaten public safety and national security. This guilty plea reflects HSI’s commitment to working with our domestic and international partners to identify, investigate and bring to justice those who facilitate these dangerous smuggling schemes.”
Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) coordinated the investigation, indictment, and prosecution of Linero Pinto.
JTFA partners with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to “target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere.”
“This conviction serves as the latest example of how Joint Task Force Alpha continues to lead the Department’s efforts to aggressively crack down on transnational human smuggling and trafficking networks that threaten the lives of those transported, as well as the security of our citizens and border,” said Duva.
Linero Pinto’s case is a part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide DOJ initiative to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, eliminate cartels, and protect communities from violent crime.
