A Bangladeshi national who lived in Monterrey, Mexico, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to smuggle people to the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.
With the plea on Tuesday (Aug. 27), Moktar Hossain, 31, admitted that from March 2017 to August 2018, he brought Bangladeshi nationals into the US at the Texas border in exchange for payment.
Hossain operated out of Monterrey, Mexico, where he housed aliens before sending them on the last leg of the journey to the US. Hossain paid drivers to transport the Bangladesh natives to the border, and gave them instructions how to cross the Rio Grande River.
“Human smuggling is a national security threat,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s plea makes clear that defendants who smuggle illegal aliens across the United States border for profit should expect to face the consequences in a United States courtroom.”
The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Hossain's arrest spotlights the increasing number of would-be border crossers coming from other parts of the world. Gurpreet Kaur, a 7-year old girl from India died from heat exhaustion earlier this year attempting to trek through the harsh desert environment.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-Laredo, with assistance from HSI offices in Monterrey, Houston, Calexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“Human smuggling is a national security threat,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s plea makes clear that defendants who smuggle illegal aliens across the United States border for profit should expect to face the consequences in a United States courtroom.”
The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Hossain's arrest spotlights the increasing number of would-be border crossers coming from other parts of the world. Gurpreet Kaur, a 7-year old girl from India died from heat exhaustion earlier this year attempting to trek through the harsh desert environment.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-Laredo, with assistance from HSI offices in Monterrey, Houston, Calexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James Hepburn and Erin Cox of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James Hepburn and Erin Cox of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
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