Man pleads guilty in human smuggling case at Canada-U.S. border

WASHINGTON — A man from Puerto Rico has pleaded guilty to bringing people into the United States across the Canada-U.S. border for financial gain.

A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice said 38-year-old Jesus Hernandez Ortiz picked up a group of twelve people — including two young children — who had just crossed the border into Vermont in 2023.

He was expecting to be paid $400 per person.

“The northern border is incredibly dangerous and anyone encouraging or facilitating the smuggling of aliens, especially children, across the border in these remote locations is putting lives at risk,” Matthew Millhollin, acting deputy executive associate director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, said in a news release.

U.S. officials said Ortiz had joined a sophisticated illegal alien smuggling network which spanned at least three continents.

Ortiz was added to an encrypted chat platform that co-ordinated drivers for long distance trips and arranged others to pick up people who illegally crossed the border.

The Justice Department said Ortiz agreed to a pickup in September 2023.

The release said Ortiz rented a van in New Jersey and drove to an agreed-upon location in Vermont, where he picked up the group of people at a specified time.

Ortiz and a co-conspirator were arrested in January.

Ortiz pleaded guilty in the District of Vermont on Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to bring people into the U.S. and one count of illegally bringing people to the United States.

“Smuggling illegal aliens over our borders — whether southern or northern — puts both aliens and the American people at risk and violates the sanctity of our laws and our national security,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva in the news release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2026.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press