Two cartel-connected human smugglers will spend five years in prison for leaving at least three migrants to die in South Texas while trying to trek around a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.
During a hearing at a federal court in Laredo this week, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo sentenced 29-year-old Fabian Hernandez and 20-year-old Emmanuel Ferral-Tonche to five years in prison each on human smuggling conspiracy charges. Both men are from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and were in the country illegally. The two are expected to be deported after their sentence is completed.
Court documents revealed that in June of 2021 both men guided a group of at least two dozen migrants through a rough brush area in hot summer weather. The group was trying to march around one of the U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoints north of Laredo. Human smuggling in that region is controlled by the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas — a hyperviolent criminal organization that routinely operates with complete impunity in Mexico and has been linked to several violent crimes in Webb County.
During the deadly human smuggling attempt, several of the migrants fell behind. The two human smugglers kept going and did not provide water or try to help the stragglers who eventually got lost.
Authorities responded to 911 calls coming from a ranch in Laredo and found a group of more than 24 individuals, including the two smugglers. The group had become lost. At the location, authorities also carried out a search and found the remains of three migrants who died from dehydration and hyperthermia.
Marching around immigration checkpoints often has deadly consequences. As Breitbart Texas has reported, in Brooks County, authorities have found hundreds of bodies from migrants who have become lost or have been left behind by smugglers. U.S. Border Patrol also regularly rescues migrants who become severely ill after getting lost in those treks.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.