Smuggler behind botched operation that killed entire migrant family pleads guilty

A New York woman pleaded guilty for her role in a botched smuggling operation that left an entire migrant family of four dead, showcasing how deadly illegal immigration can be.

Janet Terrance pleaded guilty Thursday for conspiring with others to smuggle Indian and Romanian nationals across the U.S.-Canada border for financial gain, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). In one smuggling operation gone wrong, a Romanian family of four, which included two children under the age of three, drowned to death in the St. Lawrence River.

“The defendant and her co-conspirators — fueled by greed, indifference, and recklessness — smuggled aliens via vehicle and boat across the U.S.-Canada border in dangerous weather conditions,” supervisory official Antoinette Bacon of the DOJ’s Criminal Division stated. “They endangered the lives of two small children and their parents for profit, resulting in the family’s tragic deaths.”

“Dismantling transnational criminal organizations that smuggle people into and throughout the United States is a top priority for the Department of Justice,” Bacon continued.

Terrance and other defendants allegedly worked with a migrant smuggling organization that operated on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, sneaking illegal migrants from Cornwall, Canada to northern New York State, according to the DOJ. The intricate operation would routinely house illegal migrants in local motels in Cornwall, move them to a local Indian reservation on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, and then finally smuggle them by boat across the St. Lawrence River into New York State.

Terrance admitted in her plea agreement that, in late March 2023, she and other co-conspirators were hired to illegally smuggle a Romanian family of four — a mother, father, a two-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy — from Cornwall to New York State, according to prosecutors. Another defendant who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, Dakota Montour, admitted he was aware of the dangerous conditions on March 29, 2023, the day the incident occurred.

While attempting to cross the St. Lawrence River amid high winds and low visibility, the family’s boat capsized, killing them as a result.

“A family of four died because a smuggling organization put them in harm’s way for profit,” said acting U.S. attorney Daniel Hanlon for the Northern District of New York. “Our top priority is the prosecution and dismantling of smuggling organizations. By securing our northern border, we aim to avoid more tragedies like this one.”

The plea agreement marks the latest development in the Trump administration’s war against migrant smugglers, many of whom have played an integral role in the border crisis that was sparked under the previous administration.

The DOJ Monday announced the arrest and indictment of Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, a Guatemalan illegal migrant and the alleged ringleader of one of the largest smuggling organizations in the United States. Renoj-Matul and his conspirators are accused of sneaking in roughly 20,000 illegal migrants into the U.S. between 2019 and July 2024.

The Guatemalan’s operation is also accused of a botched job that left several migrants dead. While transporting illegal migrants on the road in November 2023, an alleged co-conspirator allegedly caused a car crash in Elk City, Oklahoma, resulting in seven deaths, including a four-year-old.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office, migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico have plummeted to levels not experienced in decades.

Migrant crossings along the Darien Gap, an enormous jungle region between Panama and Colombia utilized by migrants heading northward to the U.S., dropped more than 90% in January compared to the same month last year. The president announced that there were a mere 8,326 migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border during his first full month office — a monthly total dwarfed by the roughly 12,600 unlawful border crossings in one single day in December 2023 under President Joe Biden.

A growing number of migrants have expressed regret at trying to reach the border under the president’s watch, and Latin American officials are now observing a reverse migratory trend where many migrants are heading southward.

While relatively trivial in comparison to the Mexican border, the U.S.-Canada border has experienced its fair share of illegal migrant activity. Illegal crossings along the border consistently spiked during the Biden administration, culminating in a more than 1,000% increase in fiscal year 2024 compared to the Border Patrol activity seen in fiscal year 2021.

Under the threat of tariffs, Trump in December successfully coerced Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau into beefing up his country’s border security apparatus. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police — the country’s law enforcement arm tasked with patrolling the border — previously confirmed it’s beefing up its immigration enforcement capabilities by hiring more staff, adding more vehicles and creating more processing facilities.

Terrance Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain, according to prosecutors. A federal district court judge will later determine her sentencing.

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