According to court documents, Maria Mendoza-Mendoza, also known as La Guera, 52, of Honduras, coordinated the movement of migrants from Honduras to the U.S.-Mexico border and to stash houses operated in Phoenix, Arizona, where the migrants would be detained until their smuggling fees were paid.
The smuggling organization utilized funnel accounts to collect millions of dollars in smuggling fees. Mendoza-Mendoza exercised her authority within the organization to assess punitive sanctions—she threatened to “bleed out” a guide as punishment and demanded that a migrant whose family did not pay his smuggling fee be thrown “back in the desert.”
Mendoza-Mendoza was indicted in January 2018 and extradited from Honduras to the United States in June 2023. Mendoza-Mendoza pleaded guilty on Jan. 24 to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit.
This prosecution resulted from the coordinated efforts of JTFA, which was established by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in June 2021 to marshal the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Justice Department, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to enhance U.S. enforcement efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
The task force focuses on disrupting and dismantling smuggling and trafficking networks that abuse, exploit, or endanger migrants, pose national security threats, and are involved in organized crime. Since its creation in June 2021, JTFA has achieved significant results, including 305 arrests, including against leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators; 242 U.S. convictions; 175 U.S. defendants sentenced, including significant jail sentences imposed; substantial seizures and forfeiture of assets and contraband, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, real property, vehicles, firearms and ammunition, and drugs; multiple indictments and successful extradition requests against foreign leadership targets.
HSI Sells Office investigated the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the country. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Honduras to secure the arrest and extradition of Mendoza-Mendoza. The U.S. Marshals Service assisted with the extradition efforts.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for District of Arizona prosecuted the case.