❓WHAT HAPPENED: Four people were charged in connection with a child-smuggling operation involving unaccompanied minors, sedated with marijuana gummies, being brought from Juárez, Mexico, into the United States.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mexican nationals Susana Guadian, Daniel Guadian, their daughter Dianne Guadian (a U.S. citizen), and Manuel Valenzuela, a legal U.S. resident living in El Paso.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The smuggling incidents reportedly occurred between May 1, 2024, and October 18, 2024, across the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas.
💬KEY QUOTE: “These children are nothing more than currency to the criminals.” – Jason Stevens, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso Special Agent in Charge
🎯IMPACT: The case highlights the exploitation of children by smuggling networks; already the Trump administration tracked down 13,000 unaccompanied migrant minors released into the United States under the former Biden government, and arrested over 400 sponsors for crimes ranging from child abuse to sex trafficking.
Four people have been charged in a child-smuggling case that involved unaccompanied minors being brought illegally into the United States. The suspects, two Mexican nationals and two U.S. residents, allegedly posed as the children’s parents and sedated them with marijuana gummies to avoid detection at Border Patrol checkpoints.
The accused include Susana Guadian, Daniel Guadian, their U.S. citizen daughter Dianne Guadian, and legal U.S. resident Manuel Valenzuela. They face charges of conspiracy to transport aliens and bringing aliens to the U.S. for financial gain. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is working to extradite the Mexican nationals to face charges in the U.S.
According to Jason Stevens, HSI El Paso Special Agent in Charge, the smugglers used falsified U.S. documents and had drivers pose as parents to smuggle children, aged five to 13, across the border. “They would normally bring them in overnight between 10 AM and 4 or 5 AM, when the children would be sleeping anyway,” Stevens explained, adding: “They use that to ensure that they stay sedated.”
The criminal complaint revealed text messages between suspects arranging smuggling operations, including one message stating, “Young lady, are you working today? I have a boy 7 and 8. They are small.” Another read, “Also Fanny, I have two little girls ages 4 and 5.” Proof-of-life pictures of the children were also found on the suspects’ phones.
Stevens emphasized the risks involved, noting, “These children are nothing more than currency to the criminals.”
The Trump administration has tracked down thousands of unaccompanied migrant minors released into the United States under the former Biden government, and arrested over 400 sponsors for crimes ranging from child abuse to sex trafficking.
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