Border Security and Human Smuggling

Federal prosecutors say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, working with Texas and local law enforcement under the Trump administration’s Operation Take Back America, dismantled a South Texas human smuggling ring that kidnapped a migrant family and sexually assaulted a pregnant woman. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced that smuggler Rodolfo Daniel De Hoyos, 22, nicknamed "Rufles," was sentenced this week to more than 14 years in prison for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens causing serious bodily injury and endangering lives. Authorities say the ring abducted a man, his pregnant partner and their 7-year-old child, held them for ransom, sexually assaulted the woman, collected at least $1,000 from relatives and threatened to kill the child and "sell" the unborn baby if more money was not paid. Four other co-conspirators have already received sentences ranging from more than 12 years to 30 years in prison, including alleged coordinator Juan Antonio Flores, while four additional defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. The case highlights how migrant families can be preyed upon by the same smugglers they pay to cross, even as federal officials publicly warn that human smuggling organizations treat people as expendable commodities.