Law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday that a Texas man was sentenced to over four years in federal prison after being convicted of smuggling more than 2,500 unlawful immigrants into the United States in just six times during the Biden-Harris management.
In a Wednesday press release, the U. S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas wrote, “A Horizon City man was sentenced to 54 weeks in federal prison for expenses related to his presence in a individual trafficking crime. ”
The U. S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas cited court documents that identified 35-year-old Isai Orona, known by the name “Panda, ” as the “organizer of a human smuggling scheme. ” Officers noted that the 35-year-old human smuggler had been identified through WhatsApp, a communications software used by the human trafficking corporation to organize “criminal action. ”
Court papers also show that a vehicle used by a co-conspirator who was arrested by U. S. Border Patrol agents while transporting nine unlawful immigrants in El Paso, Texas, was registered to Orona.
Learn MORE: Pics: Key smuggling hole found near US-Mexico border
According to the U. S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas, Orona was arrested on November 20, 2023, and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport foreigners and one matter of transporting creatures on July 12, 2024.
“Orona admitted to smuggling over 2,500 undocumented noncitizens within about six months in 2023. Many car lots of illegal noncitizens were transported to Albuquerque, New Mexico and on to other sites, ” the U. S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas stated in Wednesday’s media transfer. “ He even admitted to having a network of individuals to carry the illegal noncitizens in at least 12 cars, which he obtained or helped people to get. ”
The U. S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas noted that in addition to sentencing Orona to four and a half years in federal prison, the prosecutor even entered a money judgement of$ 250,00 against the Texas native.