A Georgia man, Rodolfo Arzola-Carrillo, has been handed an 18-month federal prison sentence after admitting to his involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle individuals from Mexico across the U.S. Canada border and into North Dakota, Your Content has learned.
Arzola-Carrillo, a 39-year-old Mexican national residing in Georgia, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Bismarck Tribune reported on this development.
In November, Arzola-Carrillo participated in the smuggling of seven individuals, including two children aged 4 and 9, who lacked legal authorization to enter the U.S. through the Canadian border. Although their intended destination was Georgia, the severe cold and snow thwarted their plans.
The group sought assistance from North Dakota’s Pembina County Sheriff’s Office, which provided aid and promptly alerted the U.S. Border Patrol.
Co-defendant Ernesto Falcon Jr., also from Georgia, is slated for a change-of-plea and sentence hearing scheduled for August.
Mac Schneider, the U.S. attorney for North Dakota, emphasized the dangers associated with human smuggling across the northern border, stating, “As this case and others have shown, attempting to smuggle human beings across the northern border is not just illegal and exploitative, it is also a threat to human life.”
In a separate incident, a Florida man recently pleaded not guilty to federal charges of human smuggling after four migrants were found deceased near the Canadian border during a freezing blizzard in January 2022. Surviving immigrants identified them as Indian nationals. Authorities suspect this case may be linked to a broader smuggling operation along the Canadian border, according to U.S. News.
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