The Justice Department announced the arrests of eight individuals involved in human smuggling along the nation's southern border.
The arrests were part of Joint Task Project Alpha, an effort to dismantle such networks bringing individuals into the country illegally.
Human Smugglers Plead Guilty, Could Face Life in Federal Prison https://t.co/0tWIVE8JNX
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) January 4, 2023
"Erminia Serrano Piedra aka Irma, and Boss Lady, 31, led the human smuggling operation. Other defendants include Kevin Daniel Nuber aka Captain, 41; Laura Nuber aka Barbie, 40; Lloyd Bexley, 51; Jeremy Dickens, 45; Katie Ann Garcia aka Guera, 39; Oliveria Piedra-Campuzana, 53; and Pedro Hairo Abrigo, 33. All were arrested in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama pursuant to charges previously filed in the SDTX and unsealed today," a Justice Department press release stated.
"According to the indictment, they facilitated the unlawful transportation and movement of migrants within the United States in deplorable conditions for profit. The migrants were allegedly citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. The migrants or their families allegedly paid members of the human smuggling organization to help them travel illegally to and within the United States," it added.
Human Smugglers Plead Guilty, Could Face Life in Federal Prison https://t.co/NRlWXiN9gw
— Rose von Perbandt (@MiraclesArt) December 30, 2022
The arrests are one small part of the many migrants illegally entering the nation each month that operate with little fear of prosecution.
"In November 2022, after Biden created even more loopholes to Title 42 enforcement, 233,740 immigrants were arrested crossing the southern border, and just 29% were denied entry through Title 42," the Washington Examiner reported.
"So, contra everything the open-borders Left tells you, the more often Title 42 is used to deny immigrants entry, the fewer that come. The less Title 42 is used to deny immigrants entry, the more immigrants come," it added.
November border numbers show that if you let them in, more will come, writes @ConnCarroll.https://t.co/KDuCQdUiJD
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 28, 2022
The arrests do show that human smuggling continues to regularly operate along the southern border.
As border fears decrease, the demand for smugglers to guide migrants into the U.S. has soared, creating a large movement of individuals and small groups of operations facilitating the transport of people.
The problem has also spread to the shipment of drugs, with the amount of fentanyl crossing the border soaring.
The Biden admin's recent operation is a positive move but represents only a tiny number of the illegal crossings taking place each day.