Law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday that a Texas man was sentenced to over four years in federal prison after being convicted of smuggling more than 2,500 illegal immigrants into the United States in just six months during the Biden-Harris administration.
In a Wednesday press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas wrote, “A Horizon City man was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison for charges related to his involvement in a human smuggling conspiracy.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas cited court documents that identified 35-year-old Isai Orona, known by the name “Panda,” as the “organizer of a human smuggling scheme.” Officials noted that the 35-year-old human smuggler had been identified through WhatsApp, a communications platform used by the human smuggling organization to coordinate “criminal activity.”
Court documents also show that a vehicle used by a co-conspirator who was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents while transporting nine illegal immigrants in El Paso, Texas, was registered to Orona.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas, Orona was arrested on November 20, 2023, and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of transporting aliens on July 12, 2024.
“Orona admitted to smuggling over 2,500 undocumented noncitizens within approximately six months in 2023. Many car loads of undocumented noncitizens were transported to Albuquerque, New Mexico and on to other locations,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas stated in Wednesday’s press release. “He also admitted to having a network of drivers to transport the undocumented noncitizens in at least 12 vehicles, which he obtained or helped others to obtain.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas noted that in addition to sentencing Orona to four and a half years in federal prison, the court also entered a money judgement of $250,00 against the Texas resident.