6 charged in smuggling conspiracy that killed 8 people who were in the country illegally

By Xavier Alvarez and Mark Reagan

Seen is a slide during a press conference at the federal courthouse in Brownsville. (Monitor photo)

BROWNSVILLE — “Eight people are dead.” 

Those words came from Alamdar S. Hamdani, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. 

“Two others, seriously injured,” he added.

Hamdani announced on Friday the arrest of six people accused of running a deadly smuggling ring that resulted in the deaths of eight people.

He made the announcement at the federal courthouse in Brownsville.

A news release issued at the news conference said federal authorities have arrested the suspects over the past three days.

Those charged include Pharr resident Juan Manuel Tena, 39, Julia Isairis Torres, 37, Israel Torres Jr., 33, Erasmo Garcia III, 21, and Alexis Rafael Adornor, all of Roma, and 26-year-old Austin resident Jose Refugio Torres.

The suspects are facing an 11-count indictment from Jan. 10, which was unsealed following their arrests.

There is one additional suspect whose name in the indictment remains redacted.

“The arrests that I’m announcing here today come as part of Operation Justice For All,” Hamdani said. “A multi-year investigation into a human smuggling ring operating throughout South Texas.”

Though much of the information remains confidential as Hamdani stated that he couldn’t go into details, he did say the investigation is ongoing and all departments involved are using all means necessary to bring down “a transnational human smuggling organization.”

The attorney was joined by Homeland Security Investigations’ Acting Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee; Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Joel Martinez; Capt. Michael Cintron, the deputy sector commander of the U.S. Coast Guard-Corpus Christi and others.

Hamdani took the time to introduce every representative there as he said that an investigation of this scale requires coordination from local to state to federal levels. 

“According to the indictment, Tena was the alleged leader of the alien smuggling ring and coordinated a network of co-conspirators throughout the Southern District of Texas,” the release stated. “Tena and his co-conspirators allegedly conspired to transport illegal aliens from the Rio Grande Valley to destinations within the United States.”

The alleged conspiracy killed eight people and seriously injured two, according to the release.

Julia Torres, Tena, Israel Torres, Jose Torres and Garcia are accused of attempting to smuggle people by motor vehicle in March 2019 from the Valley to Houston when that vehicle rolled over and killed four people and severely injured one other, the release stated.

The indictment alleges that Tena coordinated the smuggling attempt and that Julia Torres, Israel Torres, Jose Torres and Garcia acted as scouts.

The charging document doesn’t specify where the fatal crash happened.

Tena is also charged along with Adorno for a deadly smuggling event in February 2022 where a watercraft off South Padre Island capsized and killed four people in the country illegally while severely injuring one other.

“During the evening of February 17, 2022, officers from the Port Mansfield Police Department discovered a deceased person within the waterworks,” Larrabee said.

They later found a capsized boat and three more dead bodies, all which were determined to be people who were illegally present in the U.S., according to Larrabee.

A Coast Guard press release from the time said officials were searching for a total of nine people from the capsized boat.

The indictment alleges that Tena coordinated this smuggling attempt and that Adorno acted as a scout. The individual whose name is redacted in the indictment is accused of operating the watercraft.

“Defendant Juan Manuel Tena coordinated a network of co-conspirators throughout the Southern District of Texas by (1) recruiting co-conspirators to act as load drivers and scouts for alien smuggling operations; (2) providing co-conspirators with means of transportation, including motor vehicles and watercraft; and (3) coordinating alien smuggling operations by means of communication, including by telephone and text messaging,” the indictment stated.

Larrabee added that during the February investigation, authorities discovered a connection between that incident and another that occurred in March 2019 where four other individuals died after the vehicle they were in during a smuggling attempt rolled over.

“In my 30-year career in Border Patrol, it never ceases to amaze me the cruelty and blatant disregard for life that these members show these [people],” Martinez said.

The March 2019 crash killed Exequiel Vigil-Blanco, of El Salvador, Carlos Solis-Rodriguez, of Guatemala, and Elsa Fanny Guaman-Cajilema and Luis Fernando Bravo-Shibri, both of Ecuador, according to the indictment.

Those killed after the watercraft by South Padre Island capsized include Jose Udiel Lopez-Lopez, of Guatemala, Ana Laura Barragan-Perez, of Mexico, and Dunia Esperanza Meza-George and Edgar Ariel Velasquez-Guevara, both of Honduras.

The indictment is also seeking the forfeiture of two properties in Roma, a property in Las Milpas and a property in Pharr.

The suspects all made first appearances Thursday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G Morgan, who ordered them held without bond pending a detention hearing and arraignment.

Those hearings are scheduled for next week.

Hamdani’s visit is notable and indicates the seriousness that federal prosecutors and investigators have given this case.

The last time the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas held a press conference in the Rio Grande Valley was in June 2018 when Hamdani’s predecessor, Ryan K. Patrick, held a press conference in the same room Hamdani was in to announce that federal prosecutors would take 100% of the illegal entry cases referred to them by Border Patrol.

That policy was known as zero tolerance, which former President Donald Trump implemented as one of his hardline immigration policies.

As for the suspects in this case, they face up to life in prison if convicted.