SAN DIEGO — Isaac Jimenez, a U.S. citizen and San Diego resident, pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in an alien smuggling conspiracy that held would-be migrants hostage in Tijuana, Mexico, rather than smuggling them into the United States as promised.
Jimenez admitted he collected tens of thousands of dollars in ransom payments from family members of migrants who were held against their will. As part of his guilty plea, entered June 16, Jimenez agreed to pay $24,500 to the families of missing migrants for funeral and related expenses and as partial restitution for ransom payments made to the smuggling organization.
“Jimenez admitted that he collected tens of thousands of dollars in ransom payments from family members of migrants who, instead of being smuggled into the U.S., were held against their will in Tijuana,” said acting HSI Executive Associate Director John Condon. “Transnational criminal organizations will not be allowed to thrive in the United States. Operation Take Back America is leveraging combined, interagency efforts to protect our communities and safeguard our homeland.”
Although Jimenez did not personally hold the migrants captive, he collaborated with his conspirators with full knowledge that the captivity was being carried out as part of the larger smuggling scheme. The reference to funeral expenses in the restitution agreement indicates at least some of the victims did not survive.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by the California Homeland Security Task Force as part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide federal initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to target illegal immigration, cartels, and transnational criminal organizations. The Homeland Security Task Forces were established by President Trump in Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, and are joint operations led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.
Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods. Jimenez’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.