EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A 39-year-old Dallas woman pleaded guilty in federal court in El Paso on Wednesday, May 11, after an undocumented individual died as a result of a human smuggling operation back in May of 2020, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office.
Lozano reportedly began working as a transport driver “picking up noncitizens near Sierra Blanca and delivering them to stash houses in the Dallas area, as well as in the Phoenix, Arizona area” and later moved up to running stash houses in the Dallas area in 2020, according to the attorney’s office.
A co-conspirator of Lozano’s reportedly guided a group of undocumented migrants on a two-to-three-day journey to a pickup location east of the U.S Border Patrol’s Sierra Blanca checkpoint and another co-conspirator was assigned as the “pickup driver.”
During this time, before the undocumented group of migrants reached the pickup location, one of the undocumented individuals was reportedly struggling and died which is when the group “abandoned the deceased migrant along with his son” and were eventually found by USBP agents, according to the attorney’s office.
The attorney’s office says Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, participated in bringing in, transporting, and harboring undocumented migrants from Mexico into the U.S. and through Hudspeth County from around November 2019 through August of 2021.
Lozano pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to bring in migrants resulting in death and faces up to life in prison.
Homeland Security Investigations, USBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshals
Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the DEA are all investigating the case.
