Today’s sentence is a message that our office will aggressively prosecute those who smuggle migrants and harbor migrants, treating them as chattel and endangering their lives solely for profit.
A 39-year-old Edinburg stash house operator linked to the death of a Guatemalan citizen has been sentenced to two years in federal prison.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane handed down the sentence for Sanjuana Yurit Garcia-Salazar, who pleaded guilty to her role in the human smuggling conspiracy on Nov. 2, 2022.
In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said Crane heard additional evidence at the sentencing about how Garcia “was an indispensable link in the chain of events” that led to the Guatemalan citizen’s death.
The unnamed individual was found dead on the side of the road in Edna, Texas, which is approximately 240 miles away from Edinburg and south of Houston.
“Leaving a migrant’s dead body on the side of the road is a growing and common tragedy along the southern border and shows the callousness of human smugglers,” Alamdar Hamdani, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in a news release. “Today’s sentence is a message that our office will aggressively prosecute those who smuggle migrants and harbor migrants, treating them as chattel and endangering their lives solely for profit.”
The investigation into the Guatemalan man’s death led authorities to the Edinburg residence that Garcia-Salazar operated as a stash house.
Authorities arrived there on Sept. 13, 2022, where they encountered her and found 21 people in the country illegally in the United States.
After her arrest, Garcia-Salazar admitted to harboring 50 to 60 people per week at the residence for two years.
The unnamed individual was found dead on the side of the road in Edna, Texas, which is approximately 240 miles away from Edinburg and south of Houston.
“She further acknowledged knowing about the Guatemalan male whom she had harbored at her residence,” the release stated. “She noted he had a really bad cough before being transported away from her residence.”
During her sentencing, Crane, the judge, noted that smuggling people is inherently dangerous and that harborers, transporters and money launderers all understand the risks people in the country illegally take as they walk through the South Texas brush in sweltering heat, according to the news release.
Garcia-Salazar is in the country illegally and will likely be deported following the completion of her sentence.
She has remained in federal custody since her arrest.
