TUCSON, AZ – A human smuggler from Mexico, Macario Ulises Barragan-Cisneros, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday in connection with his role as the operator of a human smuggling stash house located in Phoenix.
Barragan-Cisneros admitted that he conspired to transport and harbor illegal aliens for profit. On September 21, 2021, Barragan-Cisneros was arrested inside a trailer at the Camino Vista Mobile Home Park located at 6532 West Van Buren Street. The trailer was used to conceal undocumented noncitizens as part of a transnational human smuggling operation in which foreign nationals were smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona and transported to Phoenix. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations and United States Border Patrol located a total of 29 smuggled individuals, all citizens of Mexico or Guatemala, in or around the trailer.
Sentencing is set for January 10, 2022. A conviction for Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens for Profit carries a maximum penalty of ten years, a maximum fine of $250,000, or both.