Mexican Human Smuggler Sentenced for Role in Years-Long Smuggling Organization

A Mexican national was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison for her role in a years-long, prolific smuggling organization that operated at the U.S.-Mexico border. According to the indictment, Ofelia Hernandez Salas, 64, of Mexicali, Mexico, and co-conspirators facilitated the travel of hundreds of aliens from and through numerous countries into the United States. Hernandez Salas charged the aliens as much as tens of thousands of dollars to illegally cross the Mexico-U.S. border. The aliens traveled 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. “Transnational human smuggling at a large scale directly threatens our national security,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Ofelia Hernandez Salas and her co-conspirators endangered our communities on a massive scale by illegally bringing foreign nationals from more than a dozen countries into the United States. Not only did she take away the ability to properly vet these people from immigration authorities, she and her co-conspirators also robbed these people of their personal belongings at gun or knife point. Illegal border crossings are already incredibly dangerous; this defendant only increased the potential of mortal danger they faced by adding robbery to her criminal acts.” “The U.S. Attorney’s Office alongside our federal and international partners use every available tool to aggressively target and dismantle dangerous transnational human smuggling organizations and bring their leaders to justice,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona. “This investigation and prosecution exemplify the work that is being done every day in the District of Arizona and through Joint Task Force Alpha to secure our nation’s southern border and protect the American people.” Hernandez Salas and co-conspirators directed the aliens to cross the border in several ways. They provided aliens with a ladder to climb over the border fence, pointed out holes where they could climb under the fence, and provided a plank for them to walk over a waterway. In addition to moving aliens across the border in droves, Hernandez Salas and her co-conspirators also robbed the aliens of money, cell phones, and other belongings, often while armed with guns and knives. In March 2023 , Hernandez Salas and co-conspirator Raul Saucedo-Huipio were arrested in Mexico pursuant to an extradition request from the United States and remained in federal custody. Saucedo-Huipio has also pleaded guilty and is pending sentencing in June 2026. In December 2024 , Hernandez Salas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to bring an alien to the United States and three substantive counts of bringing an alien to the United States for commercial benefit or private financial gain. She is subject to deportation upon the completion of her sentence. The investigation and charges are supported and prosecuted by JTFA, the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean, and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Divis