Bangladeshi National Admits His Conspiracy to Smuggle Illegal Aliens into the U.S.

A Bangladeshi citizen who originally took up residence in Tapachula, Mexico, pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on Thursday as a result of a large-scale, criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States.

Although the U.S. is still vulnerable to organized crime gangs seeking illegal entry into the United States, the addition of the Coronavirus or Corvid-19 is a very real threat to the American people and as well as legal visa-holding immigrants.

Mohamad Milon Hossain, 39, confessed that from March 2017 to June 2019, he conspired to bring — and brought — Bangladeshi citizens to the United States at the Texas-Mexican border for a hefty payment.

Hossain operated out of Tapachula, Mexico, where he was the proprietor of a hotel that provided safehouses for aliens traveling from Bangladesh on their journey to the United States.  Hossain’s services included providing airline tickets and other assistance for the illegal aliens to travel from Tapachula to Monterrey, Mexico where co-conspirator Moktar Hossain assisted in their illegal entry into the United States.

U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana accepted the guilty plea, but sentencing has not been scheduled as of this week.

“Hossain’s brazen scheme to smuggle Bangladeshi aliens into the United States put our national security at risk,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “This guilty plea underscores the Department’s commitment to working with our law enforcement partners here and abroad to disrupt the flow of illegal aliens into the United States and bring human smugglers to justice.”

“Border Security is national security,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas.  “Our DHS law enforcement partners work on both sides of the border to make sure it is secure. The Southern District of Texas is on the front line of the fight against illegal immigration and we will continue to lead the nation in doing so.”

“This plea is a clear statement that defendants who smuggle illegal aliens across the United States border for profit will face consequences in a U.S. courtroom,” said Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio.  “HSI remains committed in aggressively investigating and prosecuting members of transnational criminal organizations that exploit and endanger the people they smuggle into the United States.  We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners both domestic and international to maintain the integrity of our border and the safety of our communities,” said S.A. Folden.

Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) Laredo is investigating this case with assistance from the HSI Human Smuggling Unit, HSI Mexico City, HSI Houston, HSI Calexico, HSI Monterrey, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations, CBP Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service’s Fugitive Division.

The investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Homeland Security Investigations.

The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.  ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources.  ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

Trial Attorneys James Hepburn and Erin Cox of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section are prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.