Leaders of Human Smuggling Ring in Texas Sentenced to Prison

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas woman and man were sentenced to 121 months and 135 months in prison and ordered to pay money judgments of $942,537.00 and $438,119.00, respectively, this week for their roles as the leaders of a human smuggling organization that conspired to illegally transport, harbor, and conceal from law enforcement hundreds of undocumented individuals in the United States and launder the proceeds of their illicit human smuggling.

“The two defendants sentenced in this case were leaders of a human smuggling operation that endangered vulnerable migrants for profit,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Since I directed the formation of Joint Task Force Alpha in 2021, the Justice Department has combatted the threats posed by dangerous human smuggling networks where they originate and operate. Since then, the Justice Department has made over 345 domestic and international arrests and secured 290 convictions.”

“As these sentencings make clear, human smugglers will ruthlessly and dangerously exploit vulnerable people for profit — intending migrants should not believe their false promises of safety and opportunity,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to work with our federal, state, and international partners to help track down these criminals, disrupt their illegal operations, and bring them to justice — the integrity of our lawful, orderly immigration system demands it.”

“The defendants exploited vulnerable migrants by leading a scheme to unlawfully transport them across the U.S. border, using dangerous methods that risked the migrants’ lives in order to evade detection,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Because of illegal operations like this one, more than three years ago we launched JTFA to combat the most prolific and harmful human smuggling organizations. The sentences and forfeitures announced today underscore the Criminal Division’s commitment to working with its JTFA partners to disrupt and dismantle smuggling networks that callously endanger human life for profit.”

“Confining individuals, including minors, in coffin-like spaces with no room to move or breathe, reveals this organization’s complete disregard for human life,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas. “Those who profit from such human suffering will face justice, and their ill-gotten gains will be stripped away to ensure that crime does not pay.”

According to court documents, Erminia Serrano Piedra, also known as Irma and Boss Lady, 33, and Oscar Angel Monroy Alcibar, also known as Pelon, 41, were leaders of an illegal HSO that unlawfully transported, harbored, and concealed from law enforcement the detection of hundreds of undocumented individuals in the United States. 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. Serrano Piedra’s role included directing the operations of the HSO, recruiting members, ordering payments to be made related to the organization’s operation, and instructing members of the HSO to be lookouts for law enforcement. Monroy Alcibar coordinated the smuggling of undocumented individuals and movement of financial proceeds for the HSO.

The HSO used drivers to pick up undocumented individuals near the U.S.-Mexico border and transport them further into the interior of the United States, often harboring them at “stash houses” along the way in locations such as Laredo and Austin, Texas. Drivers for the HSO used various dangerous methods to transport undocumented individuals, including hiding them in suitcases placed in pickup trucks, cramming them in the back of tractor-trailers, covered beds of pickup trucks, repurposed water tankers, and wooden crates strapped to flatbed trailers. The methods used by the HSO to transport undocumented individuals placed their lives in danger, as they were frequently held in contained spaces with little ventilation, which became overheated and made it difficult to breathe, and they were driven at high speeds with no vehicle restraints in the back of trucks and tankers. Members of this HSO commonly referred to the undocumented individuals as “boxes,” “packages,” or “pieces.” Typically, the fee paid to the organization was approximately $8,000, with $3,000 paid up front to smugglers in Mexico and the remainder paid once the undocumented individuals entered the United States.