Mexican Ofelia Hernández Salas, also known as “Doña Lupe,” pleaded guilty in the United States to leading a human trafficking organization thatthat facilitated the travel of more than 100 migrants to the United States from and through Bangladesh, Yemen, Pakistan, Eritrea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Russia, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua , Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
Hernández Salas’ organization charged migrants up to tens of thousands of dollars to make the trip and told them where to illegally cross the border into the United States, even providing them with a ladder to climb the border fence. Hernández-Salas and accomplices also stole money and personal belongings from migrants while armed with guns and knives.
Hernández Salas, who will be sentenced on March 10, 2025, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for the crime of conspiracy to bring foreigners to the United States and three for taking a foreigner to the United States to obtain commercial benefits, for which he has pleaded guilty.
Last year, the Treasury Department sanctioned the network and its leader, allegedly linked to the Sinaloa cartel, and indicated at that time that the organization charged migrants between $10,000 and $70,000 and since 2018 illegally introduced “thousands” into the United States.
A federal grand jury in Arizona indicted the woman in 2021, after which she was arrested in 2023 in Mexicali and extradited to the US that same year.
According to his guilty plea statement, The network directed by Hernández Salas facilitated the illegal entry into the United States of more than 100 migrantsespecially from Latin American countries but also Asian and African countries.
According to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, “Human traffickers are ruthless: they lie, steal, and put their victims in grave danger, causing death and devastation throughout our region.”
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will continue to work with our federal and international partners to help dismantle human trafficking operations and bring perpetrators to justice,” he insisted.
Hernandez-Salas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring an alien into the United States and to three substantive counts of such trafficking for commercial benefit or private financial gain.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 10, 2025, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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