Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
LAREDO, Texas – A 24-year-old Mexican national has been sentenced for his role in bringing illegal aliens into the United States resulting in death.
Alejandro Hernandez-Alcudia pleaded guilty Nov. 24, 2025.
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana has now ordered Hernandez-Alcudia to serve 70 months in federal prison. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. In handing down the sentence, the court noted Hernandez-Alcudia made the deliberate decision to leave the victim behind, resulting in his death.
The investigation revealed Hernandez-Alcudia had been involved in human smuggling for at least three months as a guide.
On Aug. 1, 2025, authorities apprehended four illegal aliens walking through the brush near El Cenizo. Hernandez-Alcudia had assisted them in crossing the Rio Grande by raft earlier that day and then continued guiding them through the brush.
According to the aliens, the group ran out of water approximately five hours earlier. When one-member became ill, Hernandez-Alcudia instructed him to sit and rest but continued leading the others, abandoning him in the brush.
When law enforcement approached, Hernandez-Alcudia ordered the group to flee and ran in the opposite direction to avoid apprehension.
Authorities later located the deceased man, who was identified as a 37-year-old Mexican national that had died as a result of heat stroke. Records show temperatures ranged from 93 to 106 degrees during the time the group traveled through the brush.
Hernandez-Alcudia admitted taking orders from an individual linked to Cartel del Noreste. He further acknowledged being paid to smuggle illegal aliens across the Rio Grande and guide them through the brush.
He will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations
and Border Patrol conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer L. Day prosecuted the case.
This arrest is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes these organizations commit, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF South Texas comprises agents and officers from ICE-HSI; FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Transportation/IRS; Interpol/Department of State and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas leading the prosecution.
The investigation and charges are supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha, the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking that cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations commit. A highly successful partnership between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, Office of International Affairs and Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorney detailees from the Southern District of Texas, Western District of Texas; Southern District of California; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and Districts of Arizona, New Mexico and Vermont. JTFA also partners with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including ICE-HSI and Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 440 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 390 U.S. convictions; more than 330 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
Updated March 9, 2026
