EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A Mexican national was sentenced recently in a federal court in El Paso to eight years in prison for conspiracy to transport migrants within the region, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Western District of Texas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Victor Ubaldo Hernandez-Ortega, 33, of Durango worked as a load driver for a known human smuggler.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Hernandez-Ortega would pick up migrants in El Paso and transport them to other locations within the city or to a predetermined location in Albuquerque, New Mexico in exchange for $100 to $500 per migrant.
Hernandez-Ortega was also recruited to oversee two stash houses in which more than 200 migrants were harbored, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hernandez-Ortega had previously been granted four voluntary departures, most recently in June 2024 through Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
He was arrested in August 2024 and pleaded guilty in December.
Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol investigated the case.
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