A Salvadoran national has received a 10-year federal prison sentence for involvement in a fatal human smuggling operation that took place in 2021, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas on Tuesday.
The office has reported, referencing court documents, that Juan Alonso Barrientos-Quintanilla, 23, has been identified as one of 12 undocumented noncitizens who escaped from a Ford F-150 linked to the smuggling operation.
The office reported that the Ford was halted close to the location of a deadly accident on Highway 277 on March 15, 2021, while trying to smuggle 20 undocumented individuals into the United States.
A second vehicle, a Dodge Ram driven by codefendant Sebastian Tovar, crashed while trying to evade law enforcement, according to the office.
The office has confirmed that the collision resulted in the deaths of eight out of nine undocumented passengers in Tovar’s truck, with one other passenger sustaining serious injuries. Additionally, two U.S. citizens in the vehicle that was hit in the head-on crash were also injured.
The office reported that U.S. Border Patrol (BP) agents came across the Ford F-150, which was halted in traffic close to the crash site.
The office stated that when BP agents instructed the driver of the Ford to turn around, all passengers escaped into the nearby brush.
The office reported that BP agents subsequently apprehended 12 undocumented noncitizens, confirming that the occupants of both vehicles were involved in the same smuggling operation.
Barrientos-Quintanilla first asserted that he was among the undocumented noncitizens being smuggled. However, he subsequently confessed to being the driver of the vehicle, as reported by the office.
On July 23, 2023, Barrientos-Quintanilla entered a guilty plea to a charge of aiding and abetting the transportation of undocumented noncitizens, which resulted in death, as stated by the U.S. attorney’s office.
