PHOENIX — A Mexican man who was in the U.S. illegally was sentenced to over 10 years in prison on Tuesday, officials announced.
Jorge Adan Fontes-Garcia, 26, was sentenced to 130 months in prison for fatal alien smuggling, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
He was also sentenced to 60 months of supervised release.
Prosecutors said he pleaded guilty to bringing an undocumented migrant to the U.S. illegally, resulting in death.
Details on Mexican man sentenced for smuggling migrants
In August 2023, Fontes-Garcia acted as a foot guide for a group of eight noncitizens across the border between Arizona and Mexico.
Border Patrol agents apprehended seven of the eight people in the open desert around 19 miles south of the town of Tacna. The remaining migrant was found dead due to extreme heat exposure.
Justin De La Torre, a chief patrol agent with the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector, said he hopes this sentencing sends a clear message to those considering smuggling noncitizens into the country.
“Human smuggling results in numerous deaths every year as smugglers are more concerned with profit than the lives of the people they are smuggling,” De La Torre said in a Wednesday announcement.
Fontes-Garcia’s sentencing included a violation of federal supervision, as he had previously been convicted for reentering the U.S. as an undocumented migrant.
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