The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) slapped sanctions Tuesday on Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez, a linchpin in the Guatemala-based Lopez Human Smuggling Organization (HSO).
Hernandez Perez, operating out of Mexico, is accused of orchestrating the illegal passage of thousands of migrants from Guatemala into the U.S. via the southern border, raking in millions alongside the violent La Linea cartel—infamous for slaughtering nine Americans, including six kids, in Sonora in 2019.
“Today’s action underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to targeting the criminal actors like Hernandez Perez and the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization, that perpetuate the illegal migration crisis and threaten the safety and security of Americans,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury is committed to using all available tools to disrupt these criminal schemes and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
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The crackdown builds on a two-year blitz against the Lopez HSO. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso kicked it off in 2023, netting indictments across three states. Last July, the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico charged Hernandez Perez and others in the group, plus a La Linea operative, for conspiring to smuggle and harbor illegal aliens. OFAC had already tagged the Lopez HSO and its top brass in July 2024, spotlighting its trafficking pipeline from Guatemala through Mexico to states like New Mexico, Arizona, and California—sometimes stretching to Texas and Virginia.
Hernandez Perez, now sanctioned under Executive Order 13581, allegedly synced her smuggling with La Linea, a Juarez Cartel offshoot Treasury last hit with counternarcotics sanctions in 2021. The Lopez HSO’s hustle—charging migrants $13,000 to $16,000 a head—allegedly generated $104 million to $416 million from 2020 to 2023. They leaned on fake Mexican IDs, cartel payoffs, and U.S. banks to move cash, exploiting the financial system to bankroll stash houses and busloads of border-crossers.
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Tuesday’s sanctions freeze Hernandez Perez’s U.S. assets and bar Americans from dealing with her, with violations risking steep penalties. OFAC also waved a red flag to foreign banks, warning of sanctions risks tied to cartels recently branded terrorist outfits by Trump’s team. The operation synced with HSI El Paso, the Justice Department’s Human Rights crew, and Customs and Border Protection’s targeting unit, doubling down on a recent FinCEN order hammering Southwest border crime.
The Lopez HSO’s takedown follows a July 17, 2024, federal indictment in New Mexico, nailing Hernandez Perez for her role. With La Linea’s bloody fingerprints—linked to the 2019 Mormon family massacre—this latest strike aims to choke a migrant-smuggling artery that’s long fed chaos and cash to cartels. The Treasury’s message: profit off desperation, and pay the price.
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