A Dallas woman faces up to life in prison after admitting her role in a migrant smuggling operation that led to one man’s death.
Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, pleaded guilty Wednesday in an El Paso courtroom to a charge of conspiracy to bring in aliens resulting in death. An attorney representing her could not immediately be reached for comment.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Texas said Lozano joined a human smuggling organization in 2019 and worked for nearly two years to bring migrants into the U.S. from Mexico through Hudspeth County.
Federal authorities said Lozano began working for the organization as a transport driver, picking up migrants near Sierra Blanca, about 75 miles southeast of El Paso, and delivering them to stash houses in the Dallas area, as well as around Phoenix. Authorities said she eventually graduated to running stash houses in the Dallas area.
According to prosecutors, a colleague of Lozano’s guided a group of migrants on a multiple-day trek to a pickup location near U.S. Border Patrol’s Sierra Blanca checkpoint in May 2020.
Before the group reached the location, one of the migrants began having health issues and died, officials said. Authorities said the group abandoned the migrant and his son, who were found by Border Patrol agents.