A Mexican woman has been sentenced in Connecticut for her role in coordinating a smuggling and labor trafficking conspiracy that smuggled illegal immigrants into the United States and harbored them in Hartford.
This operation harmed nineteen illegal immigrants. Prosecutors proved in court that they faced extortion and threats during their housing.
Maria Carmela Sanchez, 71, a Mexican citizen who last lived in Hartford, was sentenced to four years and three months in federal court in Bridgeport on Friday, according to a press release from the Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Prosecutors demonstrated that after illegal immigrants arrived in Connecticut, they were forced to work and threatened with harm in various ways if they did not pay significant fees, interest, and living expenses.
Court documents and affidavits revealed that, beginning in September 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Hartford Police Department examined several Mexican residents who claimed to have been smuggled into the United States and transported to Hartford.
Victims often made arrangements with Sanchez and her associates in both nations to cross the border into the United States. This voyage cost them between $15,000 and $20,000, which they paid once in the United States.
Most victims were forced to surrender a property deed as collateral before leaving Mexico. Smugglers then smuggled them across the border to homes in the Hartford area, including Sanchez’s on Madison Street.
This method frequently resulted in serious injury or death.
When the illegal immigrants arrived in and around Hartford, they were told they would have to pay Sanchez and her associates an additional $30,000, plus interest, for rent, food, gas, and utilities. Sanchez and her friends forged documentation for them, including Permanent Residence Cards and Social Security cards.
Sanchez also assisted these individuals in obtaining work in the Hartford region. In addition to working their own occupations, some victims were forced to do household and yard work for no pay or reduction in debt.
Sanchez and her associates rarely provided an account of their obligations to illegal immigrants. If they did not make regular or expected payments, Sanchez and her associates threatened them.
These included threats to hurt family members in Mexico, seize collateralized property , increase indebtedness, and even divulge immigration statuses to US authorities.
Multiple victims of Sanchez and her associates were minors, with at least two being brought into the United States without the presence of a parent or guardian.
Sanchez was arrested on March 1, 2023, and has been held since. On October 24, 2024, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to promote, entice, bring in, transport, and harbor aliens.
A judge also ordered Sanchez to pay $574,608 in reparation. Furthermore, once Sanchez has served her prison sentence, she will face deportation proceedings.
The FBI, Hartford police, the US Department of Labor—Office of Inspector General, US Customs and Border Protection, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have spearheaded the investigation.
