Expand joint task force efforts against human smuggling
WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of State, Department of Justice, and Customs and Border Protection announced on June 11, the expansion of efforts to combat human smuggling, and up to $8 million in rewards for information leading to the arrests, convictions or financial disruption of any key leader of Clan del Golfo, for their involvement in human smuggling in the Darien Region between Colombia and Panama.
The three reward offers totaling up to $8 million were made through the Department of State Transnational Criminal Awards Program and complement the Anti-Smuggling Rewards Initiative – a recently announced multi-partner effort against human smuggling and other crimes against migrants.
“These individuals have no conscience nor respect for human life and are willing to cause great harm to the men, women and children who entrust their own lives to these criminals,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger. “HSI is committed to working alongside our domestic and international partners to put an end to the practice of human smuggling.”
The rewards announcement coincides with the 3rd anniversary of Joint Task Force Alpha.
Task Force Alpha was established in June 2021, as a multi-partner law enforcement effort that leverages the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to combat human smuggling networks operating throughout Central America and Mexico. The task force leverages the unique intelligence, interdiction, investigative, and prosecutorial capabilities of participating agencies to counter criminal organizations involved in human smuggling.
HSI is the lead agency in most investigations supported by the task force, through which HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit targets the finances of transnational criminal organizations by identifying associated money launderers and real assets throughout the globe.
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Anonymous tips can be submitted to HSI and CBP by phone at 866-347-2423 (toll free) or online at www.ice.gov/tips.
About HSI
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of over 10,000 employees, assigned to 235 offices within the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents the Department of Homeland Security’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.