Foreign national pleads guilty to smuggling undocumented Africans into US

WASHINGTON — A national of Eritrea and citizen of the United Kingdom pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling undocumented immigrants from Eritrea and Ethiopia into the United States. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation, with support from the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center. The Moroccan Ministry of Justice also provided significant assistance.

According to his plea agreement, Habtom Merhay, 47, who operated primarily from his residence in Dubai, orchestrated the unlawful smuggling of up to 99 undocumented African nationals into the United States for profit. Specifically, Merhay admitted that in exchange for fees up to $14,000, he provided fraudulent travel documents to the aliens, purchased airline tickets for their travel to South and Central America, and then coordinated with a network of smugglers to facilitate the aliens' travel by air, land and water across Central America and Mexico and into the United States.

Merhay was arrested in Marrakech, Morocco in August 2013. He remained in the custody of Moroccan authorities until he was extradited to the United States April 25, 2014. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16.