ATLANTA - U.S. immigration officials have deported a Guatemalan man who served as a leader in human smuggling network.
Orland Escobar-Leon was turned over to Guatemalan law enforcement authorities on Wednesday.
Federal authorities say he helped facilitate the smuggling of more than 100 East African and Bangladeshi nationals into the United States in 2008 and 2009. In return for his services, Escobar-Leon received between $350 and $1,500 per individual. Following his arrest in 2010, he pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants and to defrauding the U.S. government. But because he was originally arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States, he wasn't allowed to remain in the country following his release from prison.
He was detained at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. before he was deported back to Guatemala.
Thursday
April 18th, 2024
11:24PM
