Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem called for the death penalty in the wake of a disastrous maritime human smuggling operation that left one child, and at least two others, dead.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of California announced charges Tuesday against five illegals in an alleged human smuggling attempt<\/a> gone wrong that resulted in at least three deaths, including a 14-year-old boy from India.<\/p>\n According to the attorney\u2019s office, witnesses observed an overturned panga boat at a beach in Del Mar, California, on Monday. The statement said bystanders and San Diego<\/a> lifeguards attempted rescue efforts, and law enforcement officials recovered three bodies, including a 14-year-old boy identified in court records as “P.P.B.”<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s mother and father and two others were rescued and are hospitalized. The father is in a coma. The deceased child\u2019s 10-year-old sister is still “missing at sea” and presumed dead.<\/p>\n Two Mexican nationals, Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 30, and Jesus Juan Rodriguez Leyva, 36, were arrested at the beach and were charged with bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain. They face possible death sentences or life in prison and a $250,000 fine for the first charge and penalties of ten years in prison with a three-year mandatory minimum and a $250,000 fine for the second.<\/p>\n Earlier in the evening Noem posted on X:<\/p>\n “This tragic loss of life underscores the deadly reality of maritime human smuggling and why Congress authorized the death penalty when human smuggling results in a death. I am urging the Attorney General to prosecute the suspects to the fullest extent under the law.”<\/p>\n TRUMP SAYS MEXICAN PRESIDENT IS AFRAID OF CARTELS AFTER SHE REJECTED HIS OFFER TO SEND US TROOPS TO MEXICO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n U.S. Border Patrol<\/a> agents later identified two vehicles involved, apprehended the drivers and recovered eight of the remaining nine migrants missing from the boat, leaving only the 10-year-old child unaccounted for.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.S. attorney\u2019s office charged the three Mexican nationals caught allegedly transporting the migrants \u2014 Melissa Jenelle Cota, 33, Gustavo Lara, 32, and Sergio Rojas-Fregosa, 31 \u2014 with transportation of illegal aliens. They face maximum sentences of ten years in prison and $500,000 fines.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Rojas-Fregoso, identified as having previously been deported Dec. 19, 2023, is also facing an additional two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.<\/p>\n U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said “the drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly business.”<\/p>\n FATHER WHOSE SON DIED FROM FENTANYL WARNS OVERDOSES \u2018CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE\u2019 AS STATES FIGHT DEADLY CRISIS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge of HSI San Diego, said “yesterday’s heartbreaking events are a stark reminder of the urgent need to dismantle these criminal networks driven by greed.”<\/p>\n “Human smuggling, regardless of the route, is not only illegal but extremely dangerous. Smugglers often treat people as disposable commodities, leading to tragic and sometimes deadly consequences, as we saw in this case,” Gibson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The HSI, along with the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and other partners from the Marine Task Force, remains firmly committed to holding those responsible accountable for these senseless deaths.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem called for the death penalty in the wake of a disastrous maritime human smuggling operation that left one child, and at least two others, dead. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of California announced charges Tuesday against five illegals in an alleged human smuggling attempt gone wrong that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}