New York Woman Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Illegal Aliens from Canada

A New York woman pleaded guilty today for her role in an international alien smuggling conspiracy that brought aliens primarily from India into the United States across the northern border.

According to court documents, Stacey Taylor, 43, of Plattsburgh, New York, was involved in a failed human smuggling event in January 2025 involving aliens from India brought illegally into the United States. U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped the defendant's vehicle near Churubusco, New York, in the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2025, and discovered four men inside her vehicle. Agents then determined the four men, three from Indian and one from Canada, were illegal aliens and had just crossed the U.S.-Canadian border illegally, without inspection, in the freezing cold. When law enforcement later examined the defendant's cellphone, they learned that Taylor had received coordinates for the aliens' location and instructions for picking them up. The four aliens illegally entered the United States by foot through a wooded area and got into Taylor's waiting vehicle, and she then drove them away from the border and further into the interior United States. After law enforcement stopped her vehicle, Taylor admitted that she picked up the four aliens and expected to receive payment for doing so. Additional review of Taylor's phone revealed text messages that indicated that she had been involved in multiple other human smuggling events in the days prior. Following her January 2025 arrest, she was subsequently stopped in a suspected alien smuggling venture in August 2025 and was again implicated in alien smuggling in September 2025.

Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for profit. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 3 and faces a statutory minimum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III for the Northern District of New York, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony Patrone of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo made the announcement.

HSI Rouses Point, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Border Patrol Champlain Station are investigating the case. HSI's Human Smuggling Unit in Washington D.C. and CBP's International Interdiction Task Force provided significant assistance.

The investigation and indictment were supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department's lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA's mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP, Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA's work has resulted in more than 477 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 431 U.S. convictions; and more than 370 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

Deputy Chief Rami Badawy of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffry Stitt for the Northern District of New York are prosecuting the case.