Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher of Vermont is seen on a screen shot addressing the national news conference in Florida. (Vermont News First Photo by Mike Donoghue)
by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine
TAMPA, FLA. — Attorney General Pam Bondi, flanked by federal prosecutors, including Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher of Vermont, outlined on Thursday several recent significant efforts to combat human trafficking and smuggling along the international borders, including an important felony indictment in Vermont.
Norma Linda Lozano, 53, of Ypsilanti, Mich. is named in a 7-count indictment unsealed in Vermont on Wednesday that charges her with leading a major human smuggling operation, including transporting young children, along the northern U.S. border.
The criminal cases that broke this week and were outlined Thursday are part of an ongoing effort between U.S. Attorneys across the nation and the Department of Homeland Security, Bondi said.
Drescher was one of five federal prosecutors nationwide invited to join Bondi in Tampa, Fla. for the news conference to outline the significant steps that Homeland Security and other federal authorities have undertaken to try to stem the tide of illegal human smuggling and to make the country safer.
The recent arrests, including for Lozano, are part of a national program known as Joint Task Force Alpha to combat Transnational Criminal Organizations involved in human smuggling, she said.
Authorities arrested Lozano on Tuesday in the state of Georgia on the federal indictment from Vermont, Drescher said at the news conference.
The defendant, also known as Norma Linda Quintanilla Lozano, had her initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Albany, Ga. shortly before the news conference, which was live streamed.
A federal magistrate judge ordered Lozano sent back to Vermont, Drescher reported.
A five-page motion for her detention pending trial, filed by Drescher in the federal court in Vermont, said Lozano was a serious risk to flee.
Federal court records filed late Thursday showed Lozano waived her right to an identity hearing and a probable cause determination until she is brought to Vermont.
She agreed not to contest her detention or removal to Vermont during the 12-minute hearing before Magistrate Judge Alfreda L. Sheppard, records show.
The detention motion also noted that Lozano showed a complete disregard for the safety and wellbeing of children during smuggling operations in July 2024 and November 2024.
Bondi, in discussing some of the cases, said cartels and smugglers often drugged children to keep them silent while crossing the border.
It was unclear when Lozano might arrive back in Vermont.
The Vermont indictment charges Lozano with six counts of bringing in and harboring aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain. The investigation revealed that some of the illegal immigrants were children, some as young as 5 years old. The indictment listed the six illegal immigrants only by their initials.
The seventh felony charge is conspiracy to knowingly and intentionally bringing in and harboring aliens in Vermont and elsewhere between February 2024 and November 2024. The charge involves other conspirators, known and unknown to the grand jury, the indictment states.
The single conspiracy charge maintains the illegal immigrants were brought from Canada into the United States. The immigrants were nationals from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador and they were directed by the alien smuggling organization to cross the Vermont/Canada border in between authorized ports of entry with immigration officers, the indictment said.
Lozano coordinated with other co-conspirators in Canada to pick up aliens at predetermined locations after they entered the United States. The illegal immigrants would be brought to residences, public businesses and airports, the indictment said.
The undocumented immigrants paid money to Lozano and others in the alien smuggling organization to be brought to the United States, the indictment said. Lorenzo negotiated the fees with her co-conspirators to help with the alien movements at the border crossings and she got paid for her role, the indictment said.
The court papers note that Lozano drove from Michigan to Vermont on Feb. 11, 2024 to pick up aliens that had unlawfully crossed into the United States.
She also drove again from Michigan to Vermont for a July 17, 2024 smuggling event to pick up aliens near the northern border, the indictment said. A co-conspirator provided the aliens with a map depicting GPS coordinates to assist their border crossing.
During the July 2024 smuggling event Lozano ended up with a 5-year-old girl that was a U.S. citizen with her in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, records show. When encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol, Lozano falsely claimed the child was a granddaughter, the indictment said.
Lozano also had three adult immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador in the vehicle.
In a third smuggling operation, Lozano drove from Michigan to Vermont on Nov. 3, 2024 to pick up aliens who unlawfully crossed the northern border for a trip that she had coordinated, court records note.
As part of the November 2024 smuggling operation two minor children – a male and female – were in the vehicle, court records said.
Besides her normal smuggling fee, Lozano agreed that she would transport the illegal immigrants to various residences and airports for additional money, the indictment said.
In the end Lozano picked up eight immigrants, including the two minor children, that day in Vermont near the Canadian border, records show. The illegal immigrants were from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
In the end the U.S. Border Patrol intercepted Lozano’s vehicle with 11 occupants, including people, including the girl in the tailgate area on top of the luggage and the boy in the rear seat area, the indictment said.
The other six felony charges stem from illegal immigrants that did not get prior official authorization to enter and reside in the United States between October 2024 and Nov. 3, 2024, the indictment said.
The indictment also seeks a forfeiture of any vehicle or vessel used in the crime. It also seeks forfeiture of any real or personal property derived from the proceeds in the case, it said.
Drescher praised the efforts of the U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector, which covers Vermont, New Hampshire and northeastern New York State.
He also cited the efforts Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Lasher and Michelle Arra from his office and also U.S. Homeland Security.
The afternoon press conference had other federal prosecutors coming from significantly larger offices with likely more serious immigration cases.
The other U.S. Attorneys were: Gregory W. Kehoe, Middle District of Florida; Nicholas J. Ganjei, Southern District of Texas; and Justin R. Simmons, Western District of Texas. Also on hand was Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Criminal Division in Washington, D.C.