An American pleaded guilty to a cross-border human smuggling scheme in British Columbia

As US President-elect Donald Trump accuses Canada of failing to secure its border with the United States, an Oregon man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport dozens of undocumented migrants who crossed the British Columbia border illegally on foot and by freight train .

According to documents filed last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Jesus Ortiz-Plata signed a plea deal admitting he helped at least 25 people stay in Washington state illegally in exchange for up to 18 months in prison.

The charges relate to seven separate cases of cross-border smuggling, including two where dozens of people were found in train cars amid items such as plastic pellets.

The case sheds light on the inner workings of human smuggling operations on both sides of the border.

“Several undocumented non-citizen smuggling organizations operate in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada,” according to a search warrant application written by David Spitzer, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent who led the case.

“These organizations typically charge undocumented non-citizens between $5,000 and $10,000 (US) to smuggle across the US border.”

“Canadian Facilitator”

Spitzer’s affidavit said they began looking into Ortiz-Plata when his phone number came up in a series of people-smuggling cases dating back to September 2022.

After one arrest, two Mexican nationals said an “intermediary from Canada” gave them a number and told them someone named Chuy would “pick them up after they illegally entered the United States and take them to Oregon.”

Surveillance footage shows a man identified by US authorities as Jesus Ortiz-Plata. Ortiz-Plata pleaded guilty to smuggling people across the US border from British Columbia. (US District Court)

“Chuy was identified as Jesus Ortiz-Plata with an address listed on his driver’s license in Independence, Oregon,” Spitzer wrote.

“Ortiz-Plata, a citizen of Mexico, is an undocumented non-citizen with no criminal record.”

Spitzer described two “smuggler trains” — the first in August 2023 involving 28 Mexicans and one Colombian, and the second three months later, when U.S. Customs found 13 Mexicans, many of whom tried to escape when their train was ordered to stop. .

The name of Ortiz-Plata became the contact of migrants arrested in both incidents.

According to court documents, agents then followed Ortiz-Plata as he traveled back and forth between Oregon and Washington on the border, watching him drive groups of suspected migrants between hotels and residences.

Spitzer detailed Ortiz-Plata’s trip to California, where he made a “brief stop at a residence … the day after he was suspected of rounding up undocumented noncitizens.”

That day, a police officer stopped Ortiz-Plata at a traffic stop as he was returning, and investigators seized $13,400 in cash hidden in his car.

“Ortiz-Plata stated that he worked in construction and that the money came from casino winnings,” Spitzer wrote.

“Hide… in the wagons”

Ortiz-Plata was arrested last May after agents watched him get into his Jeep with a partner and three undocumented migrants, two from Honduras and one from India.

All three said they were smuggled into the United States through Vancouver.

A photo included in US court documents shows money found behind the seat of a car driven by Jesus Ortiz-Plata. He claimed the money was casino winnings. (US District Court)

One of the Hondurans told agents he had been living and working in British Columbia and his brother had spent the past four months in Calgary. The two paid $4,000 each to a smuggler to take them from Vancouver to Portland, he said.

“In Canada, an unknown Hispanic picked him and his brother up at a bus stop and took them to a train station. Once at the railway station, a third man, who was also arrested with him, was waiting for him,” the indictment drawn up in the case says.

“The three men were ordered to climb up and hide in the natural voids in the carriages of the freight train. They traveled on the train for approximately three hours before getting off and were picked up by an unknown person.’

A third migrant arrested with Ortiz-Plata spoke Hindi and claimed to have left India for Toronto two weeks earlier.

“A person from his village put him in touch with a person who could facilitate his illegal trip to the United States,” Spitzer wrote.

The man claimed he flew into Vancouver and was then taken to the border, where he was “directed through … to a waiting car.”

Canadian smugglers and American partners

Court documents did not identify anyone involved in the operations on the Canadian side of the border, but Spitzer laid out a link between British Columbia’s smuggling operations and American partners like Ortiz-Plata, “who pick up undocumented non-citizens when they cross the border illegally.” .

“These U.S. officers typically transport undocumented noncitizens to the Seattle area, where officers can then assist the undocumented noncitizens with travel arrangements elsewhere in the U.S.,” Spitzer wrote.

Surveillance footage shows a group of undocumented migrants arriving at a hotel in Washington state. Agents say they watched as a man accused of human smuggling led the group from his car to the room. (US District Court)

“These undocumented noncitizen smuggling organizations can help the driver transport undocumented noncitizens to other states because many illegals do not have the identification required to travel by air or other mass transportation.”

U.S. Border Patrol data shows a sharp increase in the number of people apprehended trying to cross the land border from British Columbia into the United States in recent years.

The number increased from 166 in 2021 to 494 in 2022. By 2023, it had jumped again to 1,662.

This year, at the end of September, their number reached 2,551.

Ortiz-Plata will be sentenced in February, according to court records.