Guatemalan human smuggler admits to role in 2021 mass casualty event in Chiapas, Mexico

LAREDO, Texas - A 42-year-old foreign national has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring an illegal alien into the United States, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury and resulting in death, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.

Daniel Zavala Ramos aka Dany ZR admitted he conspired with others in the smuggling scheme tied to a tractor-trailer crash involving at least 160 illegal aliens - many of them from Guatemala - that killed more than 50 people and injured over 100 more.

According to court documents, Ramos and others transported illegal aliens, both adults and unaccompanied minors, from Guatemala though Mexico to the United States. He and his co-conspirators recruited Guatemalan aliens, collected payment and arranged for the aliens to travel by foot, inside microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor-trailers.

Illegal aliens paid Zavala Ramos and his co-conspirators to be smuggled to the United States. In some cases, Zavala Ramos and others provided scripted language for unaccompanied minors to use if U.S. immigration authorities apprehended them.

On Dec. 9, 2021, Zavala Ramos and co-conspirators arranged for the aliens they were smuggling to the United States to be loaded into a tractor trailer that was to transport the aliens through Mexico. The vehicle ultimately crashed north of the Guatemala/Mexico border near Tuxtla Guiterrez, Chiapas, Mexico, resulting in the death of 56 people. Over 100 other illegal aliens were injured, some very seriously.

Ramos was extradited in 2025 to face charges in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo will impose sentencing July 7. At that time, Ramos faces up to life in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement's - Homeland Security Investigations' Counter Proliferation Investigations Group in Washington D.C. conducted the joint investigation with HSI offices in Guatemala and Mexico with substantial assistance of HSI's Human Smuggling Unit and HSI offices in Houston and Laredo, Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center, Operation Sentinel, Border Patrol, Liberty County Constable - Precinct 6; ICE - Enforcement and Removal Operations in Houston, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas and Justice Department's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training.

The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions. Guatemalan and Mexican prosecutors, with the support of law enforcement officials from both countries, were also instrumental in furthering the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Lou Castillo and Jennifer Day are prosecuting the case along with Senior Trial Attorney Danielle Hickman of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with substantial assistance from HRSP Latin American Specialist/Historian Joanna Crandall.

The charges are a result of the coordinated efforts of Joint Task Force Alpha. JTFA, a partnership with Department of Homeland Security, has been elevated and expanded with a mandate to target cartels and transnational criminal organizations to eliminate human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Colombia that impact public safety and the security of our borders. JTFA currently comprises detailees from U.S. Attorneys' Offices along the southwest border, including the Southern District of California, Districts of Arizona and New Mexico and Western and Southern Districts of Texas. Dedicated support is provided by the Justice Department's Criminal Division, led by the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Office of Enforcement Operations and the Office of International Affairs, among others. JTFA also relies on substantial law enforcement investment from DHS, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other partners. 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.

This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the DOJ to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood..