3 Mexican men sentenced in Southeast Texas for smuggling aliens in fishing boat

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Three Mexican men, who were discovered on a 27-foot fishing vessel off the Texas coast of Padre Island National Seashore, were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for alien smuggling, and illegally re-entering the U.S. after having been deported.

These sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations Unit (AMO).

Miguel Hernandez-Maldonado, 42, Manuel Garcia-Cabrera, 40, and Luis Diaz-Tinoco, 47, all illegal aliens from Mexico, pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 29, 2015. All three were convicted of one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and one count of illegal re-entry after deportation.

On Feb. 2, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez-Ramos ordered Hernandez-Maldonado to serve 57 months in federal prison. Garcia-Cabrera and Diaz-Tinoco received respective sentences of 24 months and 12 months and one day in prison. They are all expected to face deportation proceedings after they serve their federal prison sentences.

At the hearing, the court heard testimony about the reckless nature the way the illegal aliens were smuggled from Playa Bagdad, Mexico, to the Corpus Christi area. The vessel was running without its lights on, and there were multiple tanks of leaking fuel.

On Aug. 11, 2015, officers with CBP’s AMO encountered a 27-foot fishing vessel running with no navigational lights, about eight miles off the Texas coast of the Padre Island National Seashore in U.S. territorial waters. Officers stopped the vessel for inspection and identified Hernandez-Maldonado as the vessel captain and Garcia-Cabrera and Diaz-Tinoco as crew members. There were also eight additional passengers onboard. All 11 people aboard were illegal aliens from Mexico.

At the time of their arrest, law enforcement also discovered 10 bundles wrapped in plastic that contained marijuana weighing a total of 530 pounds.

The three defendants have been in federal custody since their arrests where they will remain until a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility is designated in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Watt, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.