CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — A Utah man was sentenced Aug. 8 to 10 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his involvement as a human smuggling coordinator. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol conducted the investigation.
Mauricio Andrade-Garcia, 20, of Heber City, Utah, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit March 14.
Andrade-Garcia recruited drivers through social media sites, including Snapchat, to pick up undocumented noncitizens in Southern Arizona and to transport them further into the United States for profit. He coordinated with his co-conspirators, providing them with instructions on how and where to pick up the undocumented noncitizens. He shared GPS coordinates for the undocumented noncitizens’ locations and transportation routes designed to circumvent detection by law enforcement. Three of Andrade-Garcia’s co-conspirators were arrested while transporting the undocumented noncitizens and convicted in separate cases in CR-23-00482-TUC-JCH and CR-23-00108-TUC-RM.
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona in Phoenix Christine D. Keller handled the prosecution.
About HSI
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 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 DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.