3 women sentenced to federal prison for smuggling migrants

The smuggling ring brought migrants from Mexico into Texas through the Chihuahuan Desert.

Near Van Horn, a desolate crossroads southeast of El Paso, smugglers handed the new arrivals over to guides, who led them across the arid landscape to rendezvous points, where drivers would pick them up and take them to stash houses.

The going is hard in the desert, and migrants who couldn’t keep up would be left behind. Two died, according to federal authorities.

Now, a federal judge in El Paso has sentenced three women to prison for their roles in the operation. The women — one from Texas and two from Arizona — pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to bring an undocumented immigrant into the country, resulting in death.

The longest sentence — 11 years and three months — was handed down Tuesday to Guadalupe Quezada, 35, of Mesa, Ariz. According to the Justice Department, she handled financial aspects of the operation.

She “would receive human smuggling proceeds in bulk as well as through financial institutions and redirect them to promote the human smuggling and to invest in real property,” DOJ said. Quezada used her smuggling income to buy three pieces of real estate in Phoenix, authorities said. The government has seized them under criminal forfeiture laws.

Her two co-defendants were sentenced Dec. 13.

Veronica Quezada, 39, also of Mesa, handled logistics. She registered the vehicles used by the smugglers and traveled daily between the U.S. and Mexico to oversee operations, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, of Dallas, was sentenced to eight years. Her job was to transport migrants and hold them in stash houses before they were released to travel to their final destinations in the U.S., authorities said. She relocated to Dallas from Arizona to manage a stash house on behalf of the smuggling ring.

“As demonstrated by these defendants, human smugglers have a callous disregard for the value of life,” said Francisco B. Burrola, special agent-incharge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso.

The trio ran the trafficking operation from November 2019 to August 2021, according to court documents.

During that time, “the organization twice abandoned migrants who were unable to keep pace with the group,” the Justice Department said. “An investigation revealed that the abandonment of the migrants under the harsh conditions resulted in their deaths.”

Jaime Esparza, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas., said: “The dangerous smuggling of human beings across our border has become far too prevalent and those who engage in or facilitate this activity must account for their deadly dealings.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jose Luis Acosta and Patricia Acosta prosecuted the case.