Press Release
Cross-Border Human Smuggler Sentenced to 36 Months
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Terri Ann Bush, age 43, of Hogansburg, New York, and St. Regis, Quebec, was sentenced yesterday to 36 months in prison for her role in a human smuggling conspiracy.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and John C. Pfeifer, U.S. Border Patrol’s Chief Patrol Agent for the Swanton Sector. Senior U.S. District Judge Senior Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. imposed the sentence, which also included 2 years of post-imprisonment supervised release.
Bush pled guilty on June 21, 2016.
In the evening of November 17, 2015, a New York State Police (NYSP) Trooper in rural northern New York performed a traffic stop on a southbound vehicle. A male citizen of Israel, Bush, and the driver, also from Hogansburg, told the Trooper they were headed from the international border area to New York City. They were released after the Trooper issued a traffic ticket.
Later, the NYSP and Border Patrol determined that the Israeli man was known to immigration officials and not lawfully in the United States. The next morning, on November 18, 2015, Border Patrol agents stopped the same vehicle northbound, and the Israeli man was absent. After a search, federal agents found and arrested him in Philadelphia. He was brought back to the Northern District of New York for prosecution for illegal entry to the United States from Canada, and later pled guilty. The driver from Hogansburg also pled guilty to an alien smuggling charge.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol Burke Station, aided by its Sector Intelligence Unit, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Fugitive Alien investigators in Philadelphia. The New York State Police, the Massena Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police assisted in the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Horsman.
Updated October 20, 2016
Topic
Human Smuggling
Component