The Justice Department said a woman from Tucson, Arizona, was given a five-year jail sentence for bringing illegal immigrants into the country. For her involvement in a different case, the judge added another year.
The Justice Department stated in a statement that Mariana Garcia-Tapia, 32, of Tucson, entered a guilty plea in July for conspiring to transport illegal immigrants and endanger their lives.
A U.S. Border Patrol camera operator reportedly seen four alleged undocumented noncitizens approach a 2011 Volkswagen Routan on February 2, 2024, close to the Arizona town of Naco, according to federal prosecutors.
“Another Border Patrol agent responded and observed the group get into the Routan,” according to prosecutors. “When Border Patrol stopped the vehicle, they found that it was only occupied by the driver and co-defendant, Sharnesia Latrice Cooley, her two-year-old minor son and the defendant, Garcia-Tapia.”