MEXICO CITY (CN) — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Friday on a transnational human smuggling organization operating at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The practice of human smuggling and the facilitation of fraudulent documentation undermines the U.S. asylum system, damaging public confidence in the vetting process and jeopardizing access to protection for vulnerable persons fleeing conflict, famine and persecution,” the department said in a press release.
The sanctions target the Hernández Salas transnational criminal organization, an alleged human smuggling ring based in Mexicali, Baja California, that charges migrants $10,000 to $70,000 for its services, according to reports from U.S. and Mexican authorities.
In addition to human smuggling, the Treasury Department says the group’s leader Ofelia Hernández Salas is involved in document forgery and corruption south of the border. She is also known to have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, of El Chapo and Ovidio Guzmán notoriety.
“In close coordination with our law enforcement colleagues and Mexican partners, today’s designation of Ofelia Hernández Salas and her criminal enterprise aims to disrupt the group’s global operations,” said Brian E. Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. “We will continue to aggressively target those who seek to prey on desperate migrants and abuse the U.S. financial system.”
Human smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border is a billion-dollar industry, the Treasury Department said, and the Hernández Salas ring is responsible for thousands of individuals entering the United States illegally.
The sanctions are part of an emergent strategy on the part of the U.S. to combat illegal immigration similarly to how it goes after drug traffickers, according to security analyst David Saucedo.
“Little by little, the U.S. has been involving its judicial system in the fight against illegal immigration,” he said. “Human trafficking networks operate with almost complete freedom. So the U.S. government has begun to investigate and prosecute the smugglers … in an effort to expand its judicial system to operate south of the Rio Grande.”
A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Arizona indicted Hernández Salas and associate Raúl Saucedo Huipio on human smuggling charges in 2021. They are both currently incarcerated in Mexico and awaiting extradition to the U.S.
“The smugglers’ time has come,” said Saucedo. “From here on out we’ll see lots of arrest warrants with extradition orders not only for high-level narcos, but also for smuggling leaders.”
Friday’s sanctions bar any U.S. citizens or anyone transiting within the U.S. from doing business with the designated individuals. They also block them from accessing their properties and interests in property that are located in the U.S., as well as companies in which they have a controlling interest.
“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior,” the Treasury Department statement read.
The U.S. government’s own actions, however, keep this industry in business, according to Blaine Bookey, legal director at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.
“We share the Biden administration’s concerns regarding these groups, but also recognize that the administration’s own policies compel desperate individuals to rely on smugglers and leave them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation,” she said.
To truly protect migrants and unravel smuggling rings, Bookey said, the administration “must repeal its unlawful asylum ban and establish a fair and compassionate asylum process at the southern border.”
The Treasury Department also added two hotels in Mexicali — Hotel Plaza and Hotel Las Torres — to a watchlist it maintains for allegedly allowing the group to conduct human smuggling activities on their premises.
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