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This Friday the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department from United States sanctioned the Mexican criminal network based in MexicaliHernández Salas (TCO), for “helping” transport hundreds of immigrants across the border.
According to a Treasury statement, TCO not only offers the service of “crossing” into the United States, but also provides fraudulent documentation to get an asylum-seeking appointment politician for amounts ranging from $10,000 to $70,000 depending on the package they require.
With the intention of disrupting the organization, the government also sanctioned several members and entities of its support networkaccused of the irregular entry of thousands of people and thus prevent them from continuing to fill their pockets with money.
“This action was closely coordinated with the Government of Mexico, including The Financial Intelligence Unit, and is the result of ongoing collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Yuma; the Human Rights and Special Proceedings Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice; Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Arizona District Attorney’s Office; HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit, under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force program; and US Southern Command,” the statement read.
The sophisticated network has used various methods to cross hundreds of immigrants since 2018 to the United States and used the Mexican entities Hotel Plaza and Hotel Las Torres to carry out human smuggling activities.
TCO Leader He’s in a prison in Mexico
The leader of the network, Ofelia Hernández Salas (Hernández Salas), who was arrested on March 17 in Mexicali and is in a prison in Mexicois awaiting extradition to the United States, where in 2021 a federal jury in the US District Court for the District of Arizona indicted her.
OFAC designated the TCO of Hernández Salas for being a foreign person who constitutes a significant transnational criminal organizationas well as for having materially helped, sponsored or provided financial material or technological support, or goods or services.
OFAC has also designated four associates of Hernández Salas in human trafficking.
• The Mexican citizen Raul Saucedo Huipio who communicates with smuggling facilitators in Central America to transport migrants, collect fees, provide accommodation and coordinate travel.
• The Mexican Jesus Gerardo Chavez Tamayo is an enforcer who facilitates the crossing of migrants and receives payments for human smuggling services on behalf of the Hernández Salas TCO.
• The Mexican Fatima del Rocio Maldonado Lopez in charge of altering documentation and providing accommodation to migrants in Chiapas, Mexico.
• The Mexican citizen Federico Hernandez Sanchez who works with TCO Hernández Salas to smuggle undocumented non-citizens into the United States and also receives payments for human smuggling services.
OFAC designated Raúl Saucedo Huipio, Jesús Gerardo Chávez Tamayo, Fátima del Rocío Maldonado López and Federico Hernández Sánchez by virtue of OE 13581, modified by OE 13863, for having materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support, or goods or services to the TCO Hernández Salas or in support of it.
all goods of the designated persons described above who are in the United States or in the possession or control of United States persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
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