A Bangladeshi jailed for smuggling undocumented individuals into US

A Bangladeshi national has been sentenced to 46 months in prison by the US Department of Justice for his role in a scheme to smuggle undocumented individuals from Mexico into the United States.

The US Department of Justice confirmed the matter via a press release on Tuesday.

According to court documents, the Bangladeshi National named Mohamad Milon Hossain (41), formerly residing in Tapachula in Mexico, conspired with and assisted human smugglers operating out of Bangladesh, South and Central America, and Mexico to bring numerous undocumented individuals to the US border in exchange for payment between March 2017 and June 2019.

In this regard, US Justice Department Criminal Division's Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. said, "This human smuggling conspiracy operated on a global scale and endangered the lives of Bangladeshi migrants."

"The Justice Department will continue working with our law enforcement partners here and abroad to bring human smugglers like Hossain to justice and to disrupt these criminal networks that unlawfully bring migrants from across the world into the United States," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth said.

"Today's sentencing is a great example of how Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) uses its worldwide resources and interagency partnerships to bring international criminals like Mohamad Milon Hossain to justice in the United States," said Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden of HSI San Antonio. 

"Hossain was a key facilitator and smuggler of Bangladeshi nationals and his actions put our national security at risk. HSI is committed to working with its domestic and international partners to combat this type of crime throughout the globe," added Special Agent Folden.

This case was investigated by HSI Laredo, with assistance from the HSI Human Smuggling Unit, HSI Mexico City, HSI Houston, HSI Calexico, HSI Monterrey, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations, CBP Border Patrol and the US Marshals Service.

This investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department's Criminal Division and HSI.

The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.

ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources.

ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other US government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

Trial Attorneys Erin Cox and James Hepburn of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section prosecuted this case with assistance from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.