A man who coordinated the smuggling of undocumented migrants that ended in a fatal car crash near Calexico, California was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday in a federal court, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
Jose Cruz Noguez oversaw the smuggling of at least 43 migrants as his coconspirators “cut the international boundary fence, removing a section large enough for the vehicles to drive through” March 2, 2021, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
At least 19 migrants were reportedly crammed into a GMC Yukon and 24 into a Ford Expedition as they crossed into the United States. The GMC Yukon caught fire and the driver abandoned the vehicle and the migrants — nineteen of whom were later found — the release noted. The Ford Expedition and its 24 occupants continued driving eastbound towards Holtville but “collided with a tractor-trailer in a horrific accident” at an intersection, “killing 13 of the undocumented migrants and seriously injuring many of the survivors.” (RELATED: Man Pleads Guilty Over Deaths Of 39 Migrants)
Jose Cruz Noguez was sentenced to 15 years in prison for coordinating a smuggling trip in which 25 migrants were stacked into a Ford Expedition that crashed into a tractor-trailer, leaving 13 dead. https://t.co/0zVHD4eEFd
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) July 14, 2023
Cruz Noguez reportedly “was attempting to collect payment from the smuggled aliens who survived the incident and were not apprehended by law enforcement,” per the release.
“People who engage in human trafficking of this nature are monstrous and cruel…These people were treated like human cargo…jammed into two cars to maximize the profit margin that the traffickers could make by putting as many people as possible into vehicles…with no concern about their health and safety,” U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo, who handed down the sentence, said. She also hoped that the judgment would “be a message to the trafficking community that, when you engage in this kind of gross behavior, there are serious consequences,” per the release.
U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said Cruz Noguez’s smuggling attempt was “one of the most callous and inhumane smuggling attempts” known in the Southern District of California, adding that the victims “were crammed into vehicles like sardines in a can, stacked one on top of another without seats or any form of safety restraints.” He also “thanked the prosecution team and investigating agencies for their excellent work on this case.”