A citizen of the Dominican Republic has been sentenced to prison for a smuggling attempt where two migrants drowned in the Rio Grande, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Wilkin Perez-Perez pleaded guilty on Jan. 12, 2023, to conspiracy to transport migrants within the United States resulting in death.
On May 16, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison found Perez-Perez to be a leader in the conspiracy and sentenced him to 135 months in prison. Perez-Perez is expected to be deported once completing his sentence since he is not a U.S. citizen.
Perez-Perez will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The court heard additional evidence that Perez-Perez was involved in numerous human smuggling events, engaged in violent conduct, both in and outside the scope of this conspiracy to include the possession of a weapon, and that Perez-Perez fled the United States when he learned of his arrest, authorities said.
‘Two bodies found along the banks of the Rio Grande,’ a tragic and all too often headline made possible by ruthless and reckless human smugglers like Perez-Perez and the transnational criminal organizations that employ the likes of him, said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani, of the Southern District of Texas.
We will go to any lengths necessary to prosecute the leaders and members of these organizations who care only about cash and not about the humans they transport. Let this case be an example to anyone thinking about becoming a part of the deadly smuggling industry in the United States, you will be held accountable. No matter how long it takes.
Homeland Security Investigations also released a statement regarding the sentence.
Dismantling human smuggling networks has been a longtime focus for HSI, but for those events that have resulted in the death of a migrant, our investigation intensifies, said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee, of HSI-San Antonio.
No one should ever lose their lives at the hands of a smuggler. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to identify smuggling organizations to help save the lives of people these organizations regularly prey upon.
Authorities said that Perez-Perez had been in charge and managing the transportation of people into the United States as well as their harboring in the country.
The case unfolded on Sept. 21, 2017, when Melvin L. Barahona-Godoy and Yoryi Alexis Perez led several people to the Rio Grande. Two migrants drowned while trying to cross into the United States. Authorities would discover their bodies along the river bank.
An investigation revealed that Perez-Perez returned to the Dominican Republic following the discovery of the bodies. He was in charge of the U.S. branch of the organization. Perez-Perez had coordinated the transportation of the migrants who died and other migrants and harboring them in Laredo, authorities said.
Barahona-Godoy, 27, of Guatemala, and Perez, 34, also of the Dominican Republic, were also charged in relation to the transportation and harboring of the migrants and were later sentenced to 57 and 78 months in prison, respectively.
HSI, the U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling prosecuted the case.
