Bangladeshi national Saiful Islam, 39, will make his initial appearance in Laredo, Texas, today after being extradited from Brazil. An indictment in the Southern District of Texas was unsealed today charging Islam for his role in a conspiracy that smuggled numerous aliens through Central America to the United States.

According to court documents, Islam participated in a wide-ranging human smuggling operation and assisted other smugglers by facilitating the travel of aliens from São Paulo, Brazil, and other locations in South America, Central America, and Mexico so that the aliens could illegally enter the United States. The aliens were brought to the Southern border and were instructed to cross into the United States by wading across the Rio Grande River or by jumping a border fence.

Islam is charged with conspiracy to bring an alien to the United States, multiple counts of bringing an alien to the United States for financial gain, and conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to enter the United States. If convicted of bringing an alien to the United States for financial gain, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three or five years in prison and he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. If he is convicted of conspiracy to bring and/or conspiracy to encourage and induce and alien to enter the United States, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck of the Southern District of Texas; and Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phoenix made the announcement.

HSI Phoenix and HSI Laredo are investigating this case with assistance from the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., U.S. Customs and Border and Protection's International Interdiction Task Force, HSI Mexico City, HSI Houston, HSI Calexico, HSI Monterrey, U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service, and INTERPOL.

The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs (OIA) provided significant assistance in securing the defendant's arrest and extradition from Brazil. The Justice Department thanks its Brazilian law enforcement counterparts for their assistance in this matter.

Trial Attorney Spencer M. Perry of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Cortez for the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

The investigation and charges are supported and prosecuted by JTFA, the Department's lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA's mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean, and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant United States Attorney-detailees from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including ICE/HSI and CBP/BP and OFO, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

To date, JTFA's work has resulted in more than 450 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 395 U.S. convictions; more than 345 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.