A man in Pharr, Texas, was arrested for smuggling illegal aliens into the U.S. interior — and continued to coordinate human smuggling while out on bond.
On Wednesday, 27-year-old Anthony Lenard Williams was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for his role in an illegal alien smuggling operation that officials believe smuggled thousands of illegal aliens from the southern border into the United States.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani announced the sentencing on August 7, revealing that the court had discovered during the sentencing hearing that Williams had continued coordinating the illegal alien smuggling operation after pleading guilty in April to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens.
Smuggler sent to prison after continuing to commit same crime while on bond #CorpusChristi #HumanSmuggling https://t.co/fTtQ03x0m9 pic.twitter.com/WXtoDyG6UC
— US Attorney SDTX (@USAO_SDTX) August 7, 2024
At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gozales Ramos ordered the human smuggler to serve 96 months — or eight years — in prison, along with two additional years of supervised release.
The U.S. attorney’s office reported that Williams had been found responsible for smuggling at least 560 illegal aliens into the U.S., though that number only represents the illegals that law enforcement has apprehended — meaning that the number is very likely much higher, potentially in the thousands. Williams smuggled at least 115 illegal aliens in the back of a tractor-trailer, some of whom were unaccompanied children. During one of the attempts, several of the illegal aliens had to be treated for dehydration following the journey in the back of the vehicle.
According to Breitbart News, “smuggling migrants in closed truck trailers is perhaps the most dangerous method authorities encounter along the southwest border. In one instance, 53 migrants perished after succumbing to intense heat and lack of oxygen after being sealed into a closed tractor-trailer in 2022.”
Williams’ arrest came as the result of an investigation into an organization responsible for smuggling thousands of illegal aliens via tractor-trailer throughout summer 2021 — leading authorities to identify Williams and 26-year-old Miguel Angel Hernandez as the coordinators behind the smuggling operation. Hernandez, from Donna, Texas, has already been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his role in the smuggling operation, and authorities believe that he was higher up in the criminal enterprise’s leadership than Williams.
Meanwhile, human smuggling continues to be a problem at the southern border, with numerous videos going viral on social media of smugglers dropping off illegal aliens at the border or even further into the United States.
BREAKING: Our photographer in Jacumba, CA just witnessed two human smuggling SUVs drop off groups of illegal immigrants who then trot around the border wall and enter the US. People from China, Turkey, & India in this group. This is in eastern San Diego County, and there was only… pic.twitter.com/n32ZYXZ2t0
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 29, 2024
