2 leaders of a group suspected of smuggling 20,000 immigrants are arrested in Los Angeles
“These smuggling organizations have no regard for human life and their conduct kills.”
By Associated Press | ap@dfmdev.com
UPDATED: March 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM PST
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested two alleged leaders of a criminal organization suspected of smuggling 20,000 people from Guatemala to the U.S. and charging each person as much as $18,000 to get them into the country.
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, known as “Turko,” and his lieutenant, Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, were taken into custody Friday. They have each pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to smuggling migrants across the border over five years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A federal judge ordered the men, who themselves are in the country illegally, jailed without bond until their trial in April.
The indictment names Renoj-Matul as the head of one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the U.S., a vast ring operating for at least a dozen years that primarily transported people to the U.S. from Guatemala.
The criminal network was responsible for the deaths of seven immigrants without legal status — including a 4-year-old child — who were killed in a November 2023 vehicle crash in Oklahoma, prosecutors said.
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/03/03/human-smuggling-ring-arrests/
