Smuggler Who Tried To Flee Border Patrol Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison After Migrant Died In Failed Attempt

A woman who led a failed human smuggling attempt that ended up with a dead migrant pleaded guilty to federal charges, getting 10 years in prison.

Concretely, Georgina Ramirez pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to transport migrants and high-speed flight from an immigration checkpoint, Border Report detailed.

The incident took place in September 2023, when Ramirez was transporting migrants who she had kept in a stash house in New Mexico. She expected migrants would pay her for helping them avoid an immigration checkpoint nearby after being told Border Patrol agents were not stopping vehicles.

However, when she approached the area, she saw agents were actively conducting actions, stopping cars and questioning drivers. After being stopped she answered questions from agents but declined to lower the windows of the rear seats, arguing they didn't work.

Agents noticed passengers at the back and sought to take the car for secondary inspection, but Ramirez accelerated suddenly and sought to leave the checkpoint behind. She reached a speed of 110 miles and hour and stopped a few miles later, telling passenger to get out of the car and run. "We all fled on foot. While fleeing, one of the aliens I was transporting was struck by an oncoming vehicle and was killed," Ramirez while detailing the incident.

Similar incidents have come up in court recently. In late May, two Texans pleaded guilty to charging thousands of dollars to smuggle migrants into the U.S. through Laredo. The men in question, Mac Quese Howard and De Richardson Miller, admitted to conspiring to transport migrants through Laredo, in South Texas, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said, according to Border Report.

The men were caught after attempting to circumvent a Border Patrol checkpoint near Laredo. After being stopped for the traffic violation, authorities found three migrants hidden in the back seat of the car.

After being detained, the men confessed they had traveled from their home outside Lubbock to Laredo to take the migrants, whose ultimate destination was San Antonio. They expected to receive $5,000 for driving the migrants. They could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and get a fine of up to $250,000.

Earlier in May, a dozen migrants were found hidden inside hollow hay bales following a traffic stop in the state.

Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek said an official stopped a pickup truck carrying a trailer loaded with the bales about 90 miles east of San Antonio.

A closer inspection of the vehicle showed that the bales had been "meticulously altered and hollowed out to create concealed compartments," the sheriff said.