Members of Dangerous Human Smuggling Organization Extradited from Colombia

Two Colombian nationals made their initial appearance in court in El Paso, Texas yesterday after being extradited from Colombia to face charges relating to their roles in a dangerous human smuggling conspiracy that left 40 aliens and two boat captains missing.

In October 2024, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas returned an indictment against Hernando Manuel De La Cruz Rivera Orjuela, also known as Hernan, also known as Manuel, also known as El Patron, 53, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, aka El Calvo, 41, of Colombia for conspiring to encourage and induce aliens to come to, enter, and reside in the United States placing lives in jeopardy and in violation of immigration laws of the United States.

"These defendants are alleged to have operated a sophisticated human smuggling operation that resulted in the disappearance of 42 people at sea," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Human smuggling is a dangerous, predatory enterprise that exploits vulnerable migrants for profit. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively dismantle these criminal networks that profit from human suffering and threaten the security of our border."

"There is no limit as to the lengths we will go to bring to justice those who would smuggle humans into the United States," said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. "Taking down human smuggling operations, like this one, deals a direct blow to the transnational criminal organizations that receive millions of dollars from these operations. Therefore, prosecuting these kinds of cases is key to accomplishing of our mission to eradicate Mexican drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations that use this country as a direct and indirect means to enrich themselves. Thank you to all of our law enforcement partners and members of Joint Task Force Alpha who stand shoulder to shoulder with us in this worthwhile effort."

Rivera Orjuela and Linero Pinto were arrested in Colombia in December 2024 at the request of the United States. Their extraditions followed extensive coordination and cooperation between U.S. and Colombian law enforcement authorities.

According to the indictment, the defendants participated in a conspiracy where they were directly and personally responsible for unlawfully smuggling aliens, transporting them from other locations to San Andres Island, Colombia, and from there to Nicaragua via boats, north through Central America and Mexico, before reaching their final destination in the United States. Allegedly, Rivera Orjuela and Linero Pinto advised the migrants how to get to San Andres Island, personally received them once they arrived on the island, arranged for their accommodation, and brought them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally. Linero Pinto is alleged to have bribed uniformed service members of the Colombian Navy to acquire real-time intelligence about the position of Navy patrol vessels located between San Andres Island and Nicaragua, enabling the boats carrying migrants to avoid detection. On Oct. 21, 2023, a boat carrying approximately 40 aliens and two boat captains disappeared on its way to Nicaragua after leaving San Andreas Island. The defendants were allegedly responsible for smuggling the aliens on that boat who were en route to the United States.

HSI led the investigation, with assistance from their McAllen, El Paso, and Cartagena Field Offices. HSI's Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)'s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force, and the Justice Department's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT); Office of International Affairs; and the Justice Department's Judicial Attaché Office in Bogotá provided valuable assistance. The Justice Department thanks Colombian law enforcement officials, who were instrumental in furthering this investigation.

The investigation and indictment were coordinated 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. Attorney-detailees 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 ICE/ HSI and CBP/BP and OFO, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA's work has resulted in more than 425 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 375 U.S. convictions; more than 325 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets. The extraditions of Rivera Orjuela and Linero Pinto are the first extraditions from Colombia resulting from JTFA's work since the taskforce's mission expanded to target human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Colombia.

Trial Attorneys Danielle Hickman of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Daria Andryushchenko of the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Luis Acosta for the Western District of Texas are prosecuting the case. The Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs Acting Associate Director Jesse Ormsby and the Justice Department's Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Kristopher Jarvis, provided significant assistance with the extradition.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.