In an alarming case of human smuggling, two men, Jesus Ortiz-Plata and Juan Pablo Cuellar Medina, have been charged in federal court for their involvement in smuggling people into the United States on freight trains. The charges were brought against the individuals by the U.S. Attorney's Office, and both men appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The arrests came as a result of an extensive investigation conducted by Homeland Security, which led to the apprehension of the two suspects and three non-citizens. U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman expressed concern over the dangerous nature of the smuggling scheme, where people were being loaded into freight cars on trains traveling from Canada into the U.S.

Gorman emphasized the inherent risks associated with being locked inside a freight train car, including lack of control over temperature, ventilation, and the potential for injury or even death caused by shifting freight. To illustrate the perils posed by such operations, she mentioned an incident last August where 29 individuals had to be rescued from a boxcar filled with plastic pellets.

The investigation into the smuggling operation began in late 2022, when border patrol agents discovered non-citizens attempting to cross the border with a phone number linked to Ortiz-Plata. These individuals had allegedly been instructed to contact him. With this crucial piece of information, investigators started tracing the signal from his cell phone.

Finally, on Thursday, Ortiz-Plata made a trip from his Oregon residence to an apartment in Everett. Law enforcement officers carefully monitored his movements from Seattle until he left the apartment with three non-citizen men. Subsequently, all four individuals were taken into custody. Among them, two had reportedly crossed the border inside a freight train car, while one claimed to have walked across the border and been picked up on the U.S. side.

Additionally, it was revealed that Cuellar Medina resided in the apartment where the men had been staying and was subsequently arrested. According to reports, one of the detained individuals identified Medina as the person responsible for picking him up after crossing into the United States.

The charges against Ortiz-Plata and Cuellar Medina serve as a reminder of the perils associated with human smuggling operations and highlight the need for increased vigilance and enforcement efforts to combat such activities. The case will now proceed in federal court, where the accused individuals will face legal consequences for their alleged involvement in this dangerous smuggling scheme.