By Roxana Navarro
19 Jul 2024, 02:53 AM EDT
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a human trafficking organization, led by Abdul Karim Conteh, based in Tijuana, Mexico, for being responsible for illegally smuggling thousands of migrants into the United States. The defendant has also been designated for financial sanctions.
In a statement, the Treasury Department specified that human trafficking is a federal crime in which criminals illegally introduce foreigners into the United States, as well as transport and harbor foreigners who are already in the country illegally. All of this in deliberate violation of U.S. immigration laws.
“Desperate individuals are exploited”
Together with components of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, and other U.S. and foreign partners, OFAC targets these networks to disrupt their finances and illicit proceeds and, ultimately, dismantle their operations, which threaten U.S. national security.
“Working closely with our U.S. and international partners, we disrupt the ability of those who seek to exploit and endanger desperate individuals seeking a better life for themselves and their loved ones,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.
“Treasury, as part of the Administration’s effort to address the crisis at our southwest border, remains committed to using our tools to degrade the ability of groups like HSO Karim to engage in these illicit operations,” Nelson added in the statement.
The document alleged that the organization led by Abdul Karim Conteh, based in Tijuana, Mexico, violated U.S. immigration laws by smuggling migrants into the United States for years to obtain economic benefits.
They gave them false documents
In addition to providing them with fraudulent documents, the organization receives payments for its illicit smuggling operations. The organization’s usual methodology is to transport migrants to the US border and advise them on how to cross the border illegally.
Abdul Karim Conteh, originally from Sierra Leone, is responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants from Africa, China, the Middle East, Russia, and Central Asia to the United States.
His wife, identified as Verónica Roblero Pivaral, a Mexican national, performed a variety of critical functions in the organization, ranging from taking migrants to the United States border to receiving payments for smuggling operations.
Multiple agencies worked on this case and OFAC said, “Today’s action would not have been possible without the continued cooperation, support, and collaboration between OFAC and partners.”
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