(RepublicanJournal.org) – The crisis at the border is one for the books. Millions of immigrants have entered the country since President Joe Biden took office. Not everyone has entered legally, however. Some try to get into the United States by other means, including paying smugglers thousands of dollars to sneak them in. After his arrest, federal prosecutors indicted one man, whom they accused of leading a human smuggling ring.
On Thursday, July 18, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs announced it had unsealed an indictment against 42-year-old Abdul Karim Conteh, a Sierra Leone national. Mexican authorities arrested him on July 11 in Tijuana, Mexico. The US is seeking to extradite him so he can stand trial for federal charges stemming from his operation of a human smuggling organization.
Prosecutors accused Conteh of conspiring with others in multiple countries to bring people into the US illegally. It’s unclear exactly how many Conteh and his co-conspirators, which included his wife, Veronica Roblero Pivaral, managed to smuggle into the country, but authorities estimated the number in the thousands.
According to the complaint, hopeful immigrants paid upwards of tens of thousands of dollars for Conteh’s services. The immigrants came from multiple countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Somalia, Pakistan, Senegal, and others. Traffickers routed them through several Latin American countries on the way to the US-Mexico border.
Once they hit the United States, Conteh helped oversee the immigrants’ “unlawful entry into the United States.” He employed ladders and tunnels among the unlawful means of smuggling people into the US.
Conteh is facing a myriad of felony charges, including conspiracy to bring in aliens at a place other than a designated port of entry, bringing in aliens for financial gain, aiding and abetting, and criminal forfeiture. If convicted, he faces decades in prison for his crimes. His wife, a Mexican national, is still on the run.
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