Arizona Woman Charged With Kidnapping And Money Laundering After Smuggling Close To 100 Illegal Immigrants A Month Into The US For Up To $15K Each
A woman from Arizona appeared to have thought she was living her best life by charging up to $15,000 to smuggle hundreds of illegal immigrants across the US border, only to be caught by law enforcement last week who have served her with a heap of charges. On Sunday, police revealed in a press release that 24-year-old Tania Estudillo Hernandez helped 80 to 100 people get into the United States each month for an estimated six months.
While it’s unclear how many immigrants she ended up smuggling across the border in total, cops say she generated a fortune from her illegal activities, which came to an end when she was caught during a traffic stop as she transported a Guatemalan national to the country. Police were notified about the crime after being tipped off by someone claiming Hernandez was holding people for ransom at a house in El Mirage.
And what is Abbott or the governors of California, and Arizona gonna do to stop even Americans from helping to “smuggle” illegal migrants over to the USA? Huh?
— Mike Turtle aka Mr. Turtle (@miketurtlexxx) September 18, 2022
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They were informed that multiple people were being held hostage, including the husband of the person who had called in to file the report. Hernandez fled the scene but was caught during the traffic stop, during which time two smugglers bolted out of the property with 10 illegal immigrants in tow. Hernandez, who was arrested on Friday and is being held at Maricopa County Jail, has been charged with money laundering, kidnapping, illegally participating in an illegal enterprise and conspiracy.
Seeing that two smugglers were able to get away, Hernandez clearly wasn’t the only person who was helping her in her scheme, but she’s believed to have been the person in charge of the operation. When the house was searched, cops say they also found two handguns, ammunition, a semiautomatic rifle, and ledgers that indicated human smuggling among other evidence.
It’s wonderful for drug cartels to smuggle illegal aliens into Texas or Arizona but horrible for a governor to put them on a plane to a vacation hotspot in a blue state https://t.co/PwgI2fMHXh
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) September 15, 2022
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The 10 immigrants who were able to get away have yet to be located, according to KTVK-KPHO. It’s assumed that one of the smugglers stole one of the handguns before they evacuated the property, though a thorough investigation by the EMPD and the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs is still ongoing.
