Pennsylvania Man Charged with Alien Smuggling & Human Trafficking

Salt Lake City, Utah – A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a dual citizen, living in Pennsylvania, who traveled to Salt Lake City for the purpose of paying for and obtaining tourist visas to promote the illegal smuggling of foreign nationals into the United States. 

According to court documents, Sivarupan Sivaramalingam, 43, of Malvern, PA, was arrested on June 20, 2024, following a criminal investigation into a human smuggling organization. Working in an undercover capacity, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations was introduced to Sivaramalingam. Sivaramalingam believed that the undercover agent could provide means of entry into the United States for foreign nationals. Communicating through a mobile application used for instant messaging and voice-over-IP service, Sivaramalingam told the undercover agent he would pay approximately $12,500 U.S dollars, per foreign national, for an entry visa or some other valid document to enter the United States. 

On April 8, 2024, Sivaramalingam traveled to Salt Lake City to meet the undercover agent and further discuss the illegal services mentioned for foreign nationals. Sivaramalingam provided the undercover agent hard copies of five Sri Lankan nationals’ passports and asked the agent to process the foreign nationals to obtain entry into the United States. During the meeting, Sivaramalingam and the undercover agent agreed to an initial down payment for the services in the amount of approximately $5,000 to start the process. On April 18, 2024, Sivaramalingam sent a picture of a bank receipt for $5,000 to the undercover agent via the phone app. The next day, the undercover agent received and confirmed that the $5,000 bank transfer was successfully deposited into his account. During May and June, communication continued between Sivaramalingam and the undercover agent and the undercover agent notified Sivaramalingam that he had acquired B1/B2 tourist visas for all five Sri Lankan nationals. B1/B2 tourist visas are not actually valid entry documents, nor authorized, for travel or entry into the U.S. 

On June 20, 2024, Sivaramalingam and the undercover agent met again in Salt Lake City for Sivaramalingam to receive the tourist visas and pay another $6,000 for the undercover agent’s services. It was agreed the rest would be paid upon successful entry of the foreign nationals into the U.S. During the exchange, the undercover agent told Sivaramalingam that the process of getting the visas was not legal or legitimate.  

As alleged in the complaint, the human smuggling organization is believed to be based in the United States, but is smuggling foreign nationals into the U.S. from all over the world, namely India and Sri Lanka. 

Sivaramalingam is charged with Alien smuggling, and human trafficking with respect to involuntary servitude and forced labor. His initial appearance on the indictment is scheduled for July 12, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 at the United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. 

United States Attorney, Trina A. Higgins, of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Oparations (ERO), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Assistant United States Attorney Carlos Esqueda of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case. 

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.