ICE joins US Department of the Treasury in announcing sanctions against Mexico-based transnational criminal organization leader responsible for smuggling migrants into the US

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement joined the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in announcing sanctions against Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez, a prominent leader of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization, March 18. Hernandez Perez has coordinated smuggling operations with members of the violent, U.S.-sanctioned drug trafficking group La Linea and engaged in criminal activity tied to some of the most reprehensible acts in recent history, including the 2019 murders of nine American citizens, six of them children, in the Mexican state of Sonora. The Lopez HSO is a Guatemala-based transnational criminal organization responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants from Guatemala, through Mexico, and into the United States.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations El Paso special agents, along with the assistance of multiple law enforcement partners, initiated an operation against the Lopez HSO in 2023 that spanned three states and resulted in a series of indictments and arrests. On July 25, 2024, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico announced additional indictments against the Lopez HSO and a La Linea cartel member who has assisted in the organization’s human smuggling operations across Mexico and into the United States. La Linea, also known as the Juarez Cartel, was most recently designated pursuant to Treasury’s counternarcotics authorities in 2021.

“ICE is committed to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling Transnational Criminal Organizations that exploit vulnerable individuals and jeopardize border security,” said ICE HSI acting Executive Associate Director Robert Hammer. “These sanctions, targeting a key leader of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization responsible for orchestrating the illegal smuggling of thousands of migrants across the U.S. Southern Border, hold accountable those who profit from human trafficking and other illicit activities, while reinforcing our efforts to safeguard the security and integrity of our communities.”

Hernandez Perez coordinated with La Linea to bring illegal aliens into the United States. The Lopez HSO smuggled illegal aliens from Guatemala to the United States via Mexico. The organization has primarily smuggled illegal aliens to New Mexico, Arizona, and California but also has run operations through parts of Texas and transported illegal aliens to Virginia and other states far from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Members of the Lopez HSO, including Hernandez Perez, have exploited the U.S. financial system with their criminal activity, utilizing U.S. banks to receive and issue payments as part of their human smuggling operations. The Lopez HSO is believed to have generated between $104 million and $416 million in illicit proceeds from their human smuggling activities between September 2020 and 2023, charging smuggled persons between $13,000 and $16,000 each.

This sanctions reflect a whole-of-government effort to counter the smuggling illegal aliens into the United States, which included collaboration between ICE HSI El Paso Field Office, the ICE HSI Human Smuggling Unit, OFAC, the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force program.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.gov)