Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Three People Across the Niagara River by Raft, Including a 9-Month-Old Baby
BUFFALO, New York — Andres Carrillo-Hernandez, 27, a citizen of Mexico, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced on October 28. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of three years in prison, a maximum of 10 years, and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for March 15, 2027, before Judge Arcara.
According to the plea agreement, on the night of March 15, 2026, Carrillo-Hernandez boarded a motorized inflatable raft on the Niagara River shoreline near Boyer's Creek in Ontario, Canada, together with three people who were not U.S. citizens or nationals — an adult male, an adult female, and a nine-month-old child. He piloted the raft across the Niagara River and the U.S.-Canada border to the shoreline near West River Road in Grand Island, New York, when the river's water temperature was approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
The passengers disembarked and proceeded into the United States while Carrillo-Hernandez stayed aboard; Border Patrol agents soon apprehended him and the passengers near West River Road and ran immigration records checks. Carrillo-Hernandez told officers he expected to be paid approximately $2,000 to transport the passengers from Canada into the United States.
The Justice Department said the case is part of Operation Take Back America. The plea resulted from an investigation by U.S. Border Patrol, under Acting Chief Patrol Agent James D'Amato. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brendan W. Fitzgerald and Evan K. Glaberson are handling the prosecution.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Buffalo 的 Robert H. Jackson 联邦法院大楼（纽约西区联邦地区法院所在地），本案在此认罪。照片：Philcomanforterie 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse in Buffalo, seat of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, where Carrillo-Hernandez pleaded guilty. Photo: Philcomanforterie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
