A Laredo man has been sentenced to over five years in federal prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to transport illegal aliens. U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced the sentencing of 49-year-old Juan Manuel Aguirre, who pleaded guilty earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison ordered Aguirre to serve 63 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The court considered Aguirre's history of smuggling and the risks posed by transporting individuals in dangerous conditions inside a locked trailer.
"Human smuggling is an incredibly dangerous enterprise, and it requires the trafficker to care absolutely nothing about the lives and safety of those they transport," said Ganjei. "Fortunately, there were no deaths in this case, but the underlying facts indicate that several of those transported had difficulty breathing and feared for their life."
The incident occurred on December 2, 2024, when law enforcement observed people being loaded into a trailer at a warehouse parking lot. Authorities stopped Aguirre's truck shortly after he left the location and discovered 101 individuals locked inside the trailer, including 13 children as young as 13 years old.
The individuals were from Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, and Honduras and reported having difficulty breathing due to the conditions inside the trailer.
Aguirre will remain in custody until he is transferred to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.
The operation was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations along with several other agencies as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling is prosecuting the case.
