Human Smuggler Gets Prison Term in Deaths of 11 Illegal Immigrants

Chinese illegal immigrants wait while a Border Patrol agent provides medical care to a woman in a group of illegal immigrants near Eagle Pass, Texas, on May 20, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

A Dominican national involved in a human smuggling operation that led to the death of nearly a dozen illegal aliens was sentenced to a prison term of nine years.

The sentencing was issued Monday against Fermin Montilla, 45, who led the smuggling venture, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a Feb. 10 statement.

The incident happened in May 2022, when Montilla “piloted a vessel carrying 48 individuals from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, with the intent of bringing those individuals to the United States illegally,” the DOJ said, citing court documents.

“At some point during the journey, the vessel took on water and capsized, and 11 people drowned.” In September 2024, Montilla pled guilty to a count of bringing illegal aliens into the United States other than through a designated entry port and causing their deaths.

Not Trafficking

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), human smuggling is different from human trafficking. While trafficking involves the exploitation of people for labor or sexual purposes, smuggling seeks to bypass border security and assist people illegally crossing into the United States.

In some instances, a human smuggling incident can end up as a trafficking case, ICE said.

Commenting on Montilla’s sentencing, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico said that such operations not only violate U.S. laws and threaten national security but also endanger the lives of the smuggled people, as in this case.

Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos of Homeland Security Investigations San Juan said that authorities will use all resources to “pursue and to bring to justice transnational criminal organizations that jeopardize the safety of others exploiting immigration laws.”

She warned people who plan to get smuggled into the United States that “it’s extremely dangerous and is not worth your life” and that the people conducting the operations “do not care.”

The Dominican national’s sentencing is one of the latest among several such actions taken by U.S. authorities against people engaged in illicit activities.

Last month, two individuals from Texas were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay fines for leading a human smuggling operation (HSO).

The defendants “unlawfully transported, harbored, and concealed from law enforcement the detection of hundreds of undocumented individuals in the United States,” the DOJ said.

“These individuals were citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and elsewhere and they or their families paid members of the HSO to help them travel illegally to and within the United States.”

Human Smuggling

In June 2021, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. attorney general launched Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) to disrupt and dismantle human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

As of May 2024, JTFA had resulted in more than 300 arrests, more than 240 convictions, and more than 170 people sentenced.

In June 2024, the DOJ proposed to Congress a law that would increase penalties for the “most prolific and dangerous” human smugglers.

The proposal seeks to create steeper penalty tiers depending on the number of people smuggled. If a defendant’s conduct results in injury or death to more than one person, a higher penalty would kick in.

Moreover, if the smuggler carried out sexual assault or engaged in prohibited sexual conduct during the smuggling offense, the perpetrator would be subject to “sentencing enhancements.” This provision would be applied even if the sexual incidents took place outside the jurisdiction of the United States.

The DOJ said it “has been working with interested Members of Congress to advance the proposal so that the Sentencing Guidelines accurately account for the full scope of violence that can result from human smuggling.”

In November 2024, President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said he planned to prioritize the location and rescue of 300,000 unaccounted-for children who came in as illegal immigrants into the United States and were at risk of being exploited.

A DHS report from last year revealed that 323,000 illegal immigrant children were unaccounted for.