2 charged with ‘human smuggling’ across U.S.-Canada border

SEATTLE - Two men face federal charges in connection to a human smuggling operation between the U.S.-Canada border.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that 45-year-old Jesus Ortiz-Plata of Independence, Oregon and Juan Pablo Cuellar Medina of Everett were arrested Thursday, traveling with three people they are accused of smuggling into the U.S. from Canada.

This came following an investigation by U.S. Border Patrol, which began in 2022.

"These defendants have allegedly been linked to an extremely dangerous smuggling scheme where people are loaded into freight cars on trains traveling from Canada into the U.S.," said U.S. Attorney Gorman. "Being locked in a freight train car is dangerous – there is no control over the heat, cold, or ventilation, and people can be injured or killed by shifting freight. In one dangerous instance last August, some 29 people were rescued from a boxcar filled with plastic pellets."

According to court records, authorities became aware of Ortiz-Plata after stopping a group of non-citizens who had illegally crossed the border. A number they were ordered to contact was linked to Ortiz-Plata, and investigators were granted permission to track the cell signal.

Authorities say Ortiz-Plata traveled from his home in Oregon, then as he passed through Seattle, was followed by law enforcement agents to a Medina's apartment in Everett. He then left the apartment with three non-citizens, at which point authorities arrested all of them.

Both men could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.