Four Illegals Arrested in Sanctuary City For Human Trafficking

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports that its agents arrested the head of a Guatemalan human trafficking ring that smuggled an estimated 20,000 illegal aliens into the United States from 2019 to 2024.  At a press conference in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles last Monday, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally told reporters that Guatemalan illegal alien, Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, was arrested in the LA neighborhood of Westlake. He was the leader of one of the largest transnational smuggling cartels in the U.S.  Renoj-Matul and his three lieutenants, all illegals from Guatemala, charged between $15,000 and $18,000 to smuggle men, women and children into the U.S. and held most of them in stash houses in Los Angeles. While Renoj-Matul and two of his lieutenants were arrested in LA, a fourth gang member, a driver for the gang, was arrested in Oklahoma where he is facing charges for a November 2023 car crash which killed seven illegals including a four-year-old child.

According to the U.S. Attorneys office, all of the smugglers could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Last November, in response to the presidential election, LA Mayor Karen Bass pushed a sanctuary city ordinance through the City Council prohibiting any local law enforcement agency from assisting ICE in removing illegal alien criminals from the city.  In a statement to the media on November 13 Bass told reporters “Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,” Bass said. “This moment demands urgency.” The mayor added that immigrant protections make “our communities stronger and our city better.”

Apparently allowing Los Angeles to become the hub of criminal gangs trafficking people for slave labor and prostitution is a good thing. While a recall campaign for Mayor Bass is underway, it should be expanded to include the entire City Council. Not one member voted against the sanctuary city ordinance.