The ringleader of an international illegal-alien smuggling conspiracy, a sophisticated network operating along the United States southern border since at least 2018, was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. as the result of a multi-agency investigation.
"Extensive coordination and cooperation" efforts between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities culminated in the extradition of Raul Saucedo-Huipio, 49, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Saucedo-Huipio allegedly collected fees, coordinated lodging, and worked with smugglers in Central America to transport thousands of illegal aliens across America's southern border.
His co-conspirator, Ofelia Hernandez-Salas, a 62-year-old Mexican national, was extradited in 2023 and pleaded guilty on December 18, 2024, to conspiracy to bring an alien to the United States and three substantive counts of bringing an alien to the U.S. for commercial benefit or private financial gain. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 10 and faces a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison.
According to court documents, they smuggled large numbers of illegal aliens into the United States from and through Bangladesh, Yemen, Pakistan, Eritrea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Russia, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
They based their operations in Mexicali on the United States-Mexico border. Saucedo-Huipio and Hernandez-Salas allegedly charged the illegal aliens as much as tens of thousands of dollars (from $10,000 to $70,000) for the smuggling services. They were then directed to illegally cross the southern border into the United States and accordingly given a ladder to climb over the border fence. Saucedo-Huipio and his co-conspirators, while armed with guns and knives, also allegedly robbed them of their money and personal belongings.
Previously, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on this Mexico-based transnational criminal organization headed by Hernandez-Salas, Saucedo-Huipio, and others.
On March 2, 2023, Saucedo-Huipio was arrested in Mexico, pursuant to a U.S. extradition request. Mexico surrendered Saucedo-Huipio to U.S. custody on February 21 to face federal charges filed in Arizona district court.
In a press statement, the DOJ thanked their Mexican law enforcement partners, who were "instrumental in arresting Saucedo-Huipio," as well as the Mexican Attorney General's Office and the Mexican Foreign Ministry "for making the extradition possible."
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Yuma, an investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is investigating the case with the help of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and the U.S. Marshals Service, working in concert with ICE HSI Tijuana, INTERPOL, and the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. CBP's National Targeting Center/Counter Network Division and OFAC also provided "substantial" assistance. Additionally, the DOJ's Office of International Affairs (OIA) aided in securing Saucedo-Huipio's arrest and extradition.
Trial attorney Alexandra Skinnion of the DOJ Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart J. Zander for the District of Arizona are prosecuting the case.
The indictments against Saucedo-Huipio and Hernandez-Salas were coordinated through Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), which was created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to strengthen the DOJ's efforts to combat the rise in Central American smuggling operations. JTFA's goal is to disrupt and dismantle human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with a focus on networks that endanger, abuse, or exploit illegal aliens; pose national security risks; or engage in other types of transnational organized crime. In June 2024, the initiative expanded to Colombia and Panama to combat human smuggling in the Darién Gap.
To date, JTFA's work has resulted in over 355 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and facilitators of human smuggling; more than 300 U.S. convictions; over 245 jail sentences imposed; and forfeitures of assets.