Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem called for the death penalty in the wake of a disastrous maritime human smuggling operation that left one child, and at least two others, dead.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced charges Tuesday against five illegals in an alleged human smuggling attempt gone wrong that resulted in at least three deaths, including a 14-year-old boy from India.
According to the attorney’s office, witnesses observed an overturned panga boat at a beach in Del Mar, California, on Monday. The statement said bystanders and San Diego lifeguards attempted rescue efforts, and law enforcement officials recovered three bodies, including a 14-year-old boy identified in court records as “P.P.B.”
The boy’s mother and father and two others were rescued and are hospitalized. The father is in a coma. The deceased child’s 10-year-old sister is still “missing at sea” and presumed dead.
Two Mexican nationals, Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 30, and Jesus Juan Rodriguez Leyva, 36, were arrested at the beach and were charged with bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain. They face possible death sentences or life in prison and a $250,000 fine for the first charge and penalties of ten years in prison with a three-year mandatory minimum and a $250,000 fine for the second.
Earlier in the evening Noem posted on X:
“This tragic loss of life underscores the deadly reality of maritime human smuggling and why Congress authorized the death penalty when human smuggling results in a death. I am urging the Attorney General to prosecute the suspects to the fullest extent under the law.”
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U.S. Border Patrol agents later identified two vehicles involved, apprehended the drivers and recovered eight of the remaining nine migrants missing from the boat, leaving only the 10-year-old child unaccounted for.
The U.S. attorney’s office charged the three Mexican nationals caught allegedly transporting the migrants — Melissa Jenelle Cota, 33, Gustavo Lara, 32, and Sergio Rojas-Fregosa, 31 — with transportation of illegal aliens. They face maximum sentences of ten years in prison and $500,000 fines.
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Rojas-Fregoso, identified as having previously been deported Dec. 19, 2023, is also facing an additional two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said “the drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly business.”
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Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge of HSI San Diego, said “yesterday’s heartbreaking events are a stark reminder of the urgent need to dismantle these criminal networks driven by greed.”
“Human smuggling, regardless of the route, is not only illegal but extremely dangerous. Smugglers often treat people as disposable commodities, leading to tragic and sometimes deadly consequences, as we saw in this case,” Gibson said.
“The HSI, along with the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and other partners from the Marine Task Force, remains firmly committed to holding those responsible accountable for these senseless deaths.”
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