Cuban in South Florida sentenced to 30 months in prison for role in migrant smuggling
Key Points(5)
- Erik Ventura-Castro, 24, of Hialeah, Florida, was sentenced Wednesday, July 29, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
- According to court documents, Ventura-Castro was involved in a criminal organization that operated between January 2021 and June 2025, recruiting Cuban nationals and other migrants through social media platforms and charging thousands of dollars for illegal entry services.
- The organization allegedly advertised smuggling routes and fraudulent immigration services, including assistance with obtaining Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approvals and visa waivers through false information and fabricated documents.
- Prosecutors said the group encouraged thousands of Cuban nationals to enter the United States through the southern border after traveling through third countries.
- Members allegedly helped applicants falsely claim European citizenship in order to qualify for visa waiver programs and submitted fraudulent ESTA applications using fake addresses and other false information.
A Cuban national living in Florida has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for his role in an international alien smuggling, asylum fraud and money laundering conspiracy that authorities say helped thousands of Cuban nationals illegally enter the United States and fraudulently obtain immigration benefits.
Erik Ventura-Castro, 24, of Hialeah, Florida, was sentenced Wednesday, July 29, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
According to court documents, Ventura-Castro was involved in a criminal organization that operated between January 2021 and June 2025, recruiting Cuban nationals and other migrants through social media platforms and charging thousands of dollars for illegal entry services.
The organization allegedly advertised smuggling routes and fraudulent immigration services, including assistance with obtaining Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approvals and visa waivers through false information and fabricated documents.
Prosecutors said the group encouraged thousands of Cuban nationals to enter the United States through the southern border after traveling through third countries. Members allegedly helped applicants falsely claim European citizenship in order to qualify for visa waiver programs and submitted fraudulent ESTA applications using fake addresses and other false information.
Authorities said the conspirators knew Cuban nationals were not eligible for the ESTA program and that many applicants were still living in Cuba when the applications were submitted.
“Ventura-Castro was part of a complex conspiracy responsible for smuggling aliens into the United States on a massive scale,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant and others recruited aliens using social media, charged thousands of dollars to bring them into the country illegally, and helped them get immigration benefits to which they were not entitled.”
Investigators said the organization charged migrants between $1,500 and $40,000 for smuggling services. In some cases, co-conspirators reportedly chartered private aircraft to transport groups of migrants.
Ventura-Castro also helped move money connected to the operation, prosecutors said. He allegedly transferred more than $97,000 from the United States to locations including the Cayman Islands, Colombia and Mexico to pay for international flights used to facilitate illegal entry into the United States.
“The conspirators in this case used sophisticated methods to violate those laws and engaged in an elaborate human smuggling scheme, for profit,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida.
Acting Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa said the scheme exploited vulnerable people and undermined the U.S. immigration system.
“They knowingly orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to recruit and smuggle thousands of Cuban nationals into the United States, and unlawfully obtained immigration benefits through fraudulent applications, deliberate misrepresentations, and illicit financial transactions,” Ingegno said.
Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the sentencing demonstrates the government’s efforts to combat immigration fraud.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is proud to have worked with our law enforcement partners to dismantle this criminal enterprise, which churned out thousands of fake asylum claims and flooded the country with illegal aliens,” Edlow said.
Twelve individuals were charged in a superseding indictment for their alleged roles in the conspiracy.
Five defendants — Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez, 31; Miguel Alejandro Martinez Vasconcelos, 31; Layra Libertad Treto Santos, 30; Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez, 29; and Walbis Pozo-Dutel, 31 — have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Three others — Lazaro Alain Cabrera-Rodriguez, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero and Gisleivy Peralta Consuegra — are awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 21.
