US Alleges Human Smugglers Utilized British Columbia Freight Trains for Cross-Border Transportation of Individuals

The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that two individuals are currently facing charges related to human smuggling in Seattle. This is in connection to their alleged involvement in a risky scheme to transport individuals out of British Columbia and across the border using freight trains.

Tessa Gorman, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, announced that Jesus Ortiz-Plata, 45, from Oregon, and Juan Pablo Cuellar Medina, 35, from Washington, were taken into custody last week along with three non-citizens who were reportedly smuggled out of Canada.

Gorman described the smuggling scheme orchestrated by Mr. Ortiz-Plata and Mr. Medina as highly dangerous. She highlighted an incident from last August when 29 people were rescued from a freight car filled with plastic pellets.

According to an affidavit from a U.S. Homeland Security officer, the group consisted of 28 Mexican nationals and one Colombian individual who was leading them. Border officers noticed their presence around 1 a.m. when anomalies were spotted in an X-ray of the car.

Court documents filed in Seattle on May 24 outlined the charges against Mr. Ortiz-Plata and Mr. Medina. The investigation began in July after Border Patrol agents identified a phone number associated with multiple human smuggling incidents through Blaine, Washington, dating back to September 2022.

The affidavit by the Homeland Security investigator also revealed that Mr. Ortiz-Plata and Mr. Medina were apprehended on May 23 at an apartment complex in Everett. Law enforcement agents tracked them to this location where they were believed to have picked up non-citizens seeking illegal entry into the U.S.

Upon questioning the three unidentified men who were traveling with Mr. Ortiz-Plata and Mr. Medina after their apprehension, it was discovered that two of them were brothers from Honduras. They had flown into Vancouver three days prior to being arrested with the intention of being smuggled across the border to Portland, Oregon.

One of the brothers admitted that they had initially entered the U.S. illegally but had been working in Calgary for several months. The brothers provided slightly differing versions of how they came to be smuggled across the border.

One brother claimed they had flown into Vancouver, while the other stated they had taken a bus and paid $2,000 each to the smugglers. One brother revealed they paid $4,000 each to an unknown smuggler, were instructed by a Hispanic male to board a train, and were later picked up by a person from India at a train station.

The third man interviewed in Hindi disclosed that he had flown into Toronto two weeks prior and had been connected with smugglers from his home village. He arrived in Vancouver five days before his arrest on the U.S. side of the border and was directed to walk across and meet a waiting vehicle.

In Washington, Department of Justice officials believe the pair are also connected to an incident in August 2023 where 29 people were found in a freight car at a rail facility in Blaine, just across the border with British Columbia.

Gorman emphasized the dangers of being locked in a freight train car, stating that there is no control over temperature or ventilation, and individuals can be harmed or killed by shifting freight. Mr. Ortiz-Plata and Mr. Medina face a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of US$250,000.