North Texan Jose Luis Ramos Jr. Sentenced For Transporting 100+ Undocumented Migrants Inside Big Rig
LAREDO (CBSDFW.COM) — A man from Dallas has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for conspiring to transport more than 100 undocumented migrants within the United States.
This week Jose Luis Ramos Jr., who pleaded guilty in March, was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison. His sentence is to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
At the hearing, the court heard about the 46-year-olds prior involvement with a smuggling organization, details of the dangerous and reckless nature of the transportation and the number of people he attempted to transport. In handing down the sentence, the judge noted his extensive criminal history and that he was not a minor participant in the conspiracy.
According to court documents, on Jan. 6, Ramos drove a tractor trailer from Laredo, Texas, and stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint where a service K-9 alerted to the vehicle. Ramos ignored instruction and exited the inspection area, but authorities caught and escorted him back to the checkpoint.
A physical inspection revealed 126 people inside the trailer, including one unaccompanied minor. All of those inside were noncitizens from Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and El Salvador.
Ramos admitted he was hired to drive the tractor trailer from Laredo to San Antonio. During the inspection, authorities discovered that the noncitizens were kept in a sealed trailer where the temperature was 50.7 degrees.
Ramos has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.