A Mexican man pleaded guilty for his role in smuggling thousands of illegal aliens into the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Efrain Zuniga-Garcia, 38, was extradited from Mexico in September 2023 as part of a coordinated effort by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Mexican law enforcement.
Zuniga-Garcia operated a stash house in Monterrey, Mexico, as part of an extensive international alien smuggling organization.
After housing aliens, he would coordinate with “coyotes” who smuggled the aliens across the Rio Grande and into Texas.
A co-defendant admitted that, beginning in November 2020, the organization transported between 2,500 and 3,000 illegal aliens, generating between $16 million and $30 million in profits.
The aliens came from Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador.
“We take seriously organized human smugglers who seek to undermine the integrity and security of our borders and our immigration laws for their ill-gotten gains,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Investigations into the organization were supported by Joint Task Force Alpha, the DOJ’s “lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels.”
Zuniga-Garcia’s sentencing will occur in federal court, with a minimum sentence of three years.
Along with Zuniga-Garcia, co-defendant Enil Edil Mejia-Zuniga has already been sentenced to 10 years in prison and Monica Hernandez-Palma was given 41 months in prison.
The cases are part of Operation Take Back America, an extensive DOJ effort to stop illegal immigration and eliminate drug and human trafficking.
