Jafar Tafakori allegedly charged some clients as much as $30,000 to arrange travel from South America through Mexico and into the United States
A 57-year-old Iranian national was arrested in Colombia this week on federal charges that he ran a smuggling operation moving large numbers of migrants — primarily fellow Iranian citizens — illegally into the United States over roughly 18 months.
Jafar Tafakori was taken into custody April 23 in Pereira, Colombia, following a U.S. extradition request. An indictment unsealed in the Western District of Texas charges him with one count of conspiracy to bring an alien to the United States and five counts of bringing an alien to the United States for financial gain. If convicted on all counts, he faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 15 years per count.
Federal prosecutors allege that from December 2022 through May 2024, Tafakori coordinated a network that provided shelter, transportation and, in some cases, airline tickets to migrants traveling through South and Central America and Mexico before directing them to cross the border illegally. He charged some clients as much as $30,000 for his services.
“This defendant allegedly transported many illegal aliens into the United States, exploiting our nation’s immigration laws and depriving our immigration officials the ability to vet and review the individuals entering our communities,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas was more pointed in his assessment. “The enemy was at the gate, and the gate was left wide open,” he said, framing the case as evidence of the risks posed by what he called derelict open-border policies.
The arrest was the product of coordination among Homeland Security Investigations offices in San Antonio and Bogotá, the HSI Human Smuggling Unit, Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, and Colombian law enforcement, including the Colombian National Police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Colombian Attorney General’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted under Joint Task Force Alpha, a Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security partnership targeting human smuggling and trafficking by cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Since its formation, the task force has secured more than 455 arrests and 400 U.S. convictions.
By: DNU staff