California man sentenced to prison for scheme to smuggle Indian citizens into the U.S.

Seattle –A Santa Rosa, California resident, who is a citizen of India, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six months in prison for Conspiracy to Bring in and Transport Certain Aliens for Profit, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Sushil Kumar, 35, and three others were indicted in connection with a scheme to smuggle non-citizens across the northern border for profit. The group was connected to two smuggling episodes in November and December 2023. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tana Lin noted that those smuggled into the country are vulnerable. “That they wanted to be in the country doesn’t mean they were not exploited. Each was charged $5,000 to $10,000 which is months or years of their salary in the country from which they were coming… Human smuggling undermines our country’s ability to regulate the border at a real cost,” Judge Lin said.

According to records filed in the case, the two smuggling events involved eight different citizens of India. On November 27, 2023, a motion-activated camera caught multiple people jumping a fence near the Boundary Village Apartments in Blaine, Washington. The fence is a quarter mile east of Peace Arch Park. Border Patrol agents near the apartments saw five people run to a white minivan. The vehicle was stopped by Border Patrol. Five citizens of India were in the van with California resident Bobby Joe Green, 68, as the driver.

When questioned, three of the non-citizens told U.S. Border Patrol agents that they saw Mr. Kumar at Peace Arch Park prior to crossing the border illegally and identified him in 6-pack photo lineups. Two of the non-citizens stated that they communicated with Mr. Kumar via WhatsApp prior to November 27, 2023. One of the non-citizens stated that Mr. Kumar instructed him to jump over a specific fence, and that he sent the non-citizen a screenshot of his live location near the fence. The investigation revealed that Kumar and 26-year-old Rajat Rajat directed the non-citizens on where and how to cross the border. Rajat paid Green to transport the non-citizens from the border. Rajat asked for monetary payments from the non-citizens for being smuggled into the U.S.

Similarly, in December 2023, Rajat met three citizens of India in Peace Arch Park and allegedly directed them how to cross through the park and get into a car driven by Sneha. The car was stopped, and the non-citizens were interviewed. They indicated they had promised to make monetary payments to be smuggled into the U.S. Rajat was picked up near the border after Sneha and the three Indian nationals had been taken into custody.

In asking for an eight-month prison sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court, “Smuggling of non-citizens is a dangerous scheme that profits from exploiting vulnerable individuals while undermining the United States’ ability to regulate its borders and exposing our nation to potential security threats. Mr. Kumar admits that he knowingly and intentionally conspired with his co-defendants to smuggle and transport non-citizens with no lawful right to enter or remain in the United States, and that he engaged in these acts for his own financial gain.”

Three of the four defendants have pleaded guilty. Rajat Rajat, will be sentenced on April 23, 2025. Bobby Joe Green will be sentenced on March 13, 2025. The fourth defendant Sneha, 20, a citizen of India who is in the U.S. on a student visa and goes by just her last name, is scheduled to go to trial on a superseding indictment on May 12, 2025. Sneha was arrested in Renton and released on an appearance bond.

The charges contained in the superseding indictment of Sneha are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) and the U.S. Border Patrol.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jin Kim and Mike Dion and Special Assistant United States Attorney Katherine Collins.