WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez (Hernandez Perez), a key leader of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization (HSO), a Guatemala-based Transnational Criminal Organization responsible for the smuggling of thousands of illegal aliens from Guatemala, through Mexico, and into the United States. Additionally, Hernandez Perez has coordinated her illegal activity with members of the violent U.S.-sanctioned drug trafficking organization, La Linea, which among other heinous acts is responsible for the November 2019 murders of nine American citizens, including six children, in the Mexican state of Sonora.
“Today’s action underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to targeting the criminal actors like Hernandez Perez and the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization, that perpetuate the illegal migration crisis and threaten the safety and security of Americans,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury is committed to using all available tools to disrupt these criminal schemes and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, along with the assistance of multiple law enforcement partners, initiated an operation against the Lopez HSO in 2023 that spanned three states and resulted in a series of indictments and arrests. On July 25, 2024, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico announced additional indictments against the Lopez HSO and a La Linea cartel member who has assisted in the organization’s human smuggling operations across Mexico and into the United States. La Linea, also known as the Juarez Cartel, was most recently designated pursuant to Treasury’s counternarcotics authorities in 2021.
Today, OFAC also issued an alert to raise awareness of sanctions and criminal liability risks for foreign financial institutions and other entities with exposure to international cartels recently designated as terrorist organizations, some of which had been previously designated as transnational criminal organizations engaged in human smuggling and other violent acts.
These actions advance the Trump Administration’s commitment to prioritize the security of Americans by targeting criminal groups that contribute to crime and violence along our southern border, including though illegal migration.
FURTHER DISRUPTION OF THE LOPEZ HUMAN SMUGGLING ORGANIZATION
On July 25, 2024, OFAC sanctioned the Lopez HSO and several of its key members. The organization has been involved in the smuggling of illegal aliens from Guatemala to the United States via Mexico. The Lopez HSO has primarily smuggled illegal aliens to New Mexico, Arizona, and California, but also has run operations through parts of Texas and transported illegal aliens to Virginia and other states far from the U.S.-Mexico border. The organization is known to purchase fraudulent Mexican documents and pay cartel fees to facilitate the movement of illegal aliens through Mexico.
On July 17, 2024, a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico returned an indictment against Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez (Hernandez Perez) and other members of the Lopez HSO for their role in a conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens.
Hernandez Perez has coordinated with La Linea, a U.S.-sanctioned drug trafficking organization, to bring illegal aliens into the United States. Members of the Lopez HSO, including Hernandez Perez, have exploited the U.S. financial system with their criminal activity, utilizing U.S. banks to receive and issue payments as part of their human smuggling operations. The Lopez HSO is believed to have generated between $104 million and $416 million in illicit proceeds from their human smuggling activities between September 2020 and 2023, charging smuggled persons between $13,000 to $16,000 each.
Today, OFAC is sanctioning Hernandez Perez pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Lopez HSO. Today’s action against the Lopez HSO was conducted in close coordination with the HSI-El Paso Field Office, the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, the HSI Human Smuggling Unit, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force program. This action follows a recent FinCEN Southwest Border Global Targeting Order, furthering Treasury’s efforts to combat drug cartels and other criminal groups at the southern border.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
U.S. persons may face civil or criminal penalties for violations of E.O. 13581, as amended. Non-U.S. persons are also prohibited from causing or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to wittingly or unwittingly violate U.S. sanctions, as well as engaging in conduct that evades U.S. sanctions. OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. sanctions, including the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.
For more information on the individual designated today, click here.
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