Houston Semitruck Driver Sentenced to Federal Prison for Alien Smuggling

DEL RIO, Texas – A Houston man was sentenced in a federal court in Del Rio to 41 months in prison for conspiring to transport illegal aliens in his commercial semitruck, announced U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons.

According to court documents, Francisco Javier Diaz, 35, was arrested at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Eagle Pass on May 3, 2024. While Diaz waited in his semitruck in the inspection lane, a USBP canine conducted a free air sniff and alerted agents to the sleeper compartment of the vehicle. Further inspection revealed five people under the mattress in the compartment and an additional man hidden in a compartment on the side of the bed. All six passengers were determined to be illegal aliens, whom Diaz was transporting from Eagle Pass to Houston.

Diaz was indicted for one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, to which he pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2024. Chief U.S. District Judge Alia Moses presided over the case.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the USBP investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nallely Duarte prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

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