Two men charged in cross-border human smuggling case

The Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)

OTTAWA — A man from the Dominican Republic and a man from the United States have been charged with conspiring to smuggle foreign nationals into the United States via the Canada-U.S. border.

The U.S. Department of Justice says in a press release that 27-year-old Francisco Antonio Luna Rosado and 37-year-old Jesus Hernandez Ortiz planned to smuggle people from Mexico and Central and South America into the United States.

The news release says the pair has been charged with one count of conspiracy to illegally bring people to the United States and 12 counts of illegally bringing people into the country for private financial gain.

The release says Luna Rosado also faces two counts of transactional money laundering related to human smuggling.

The U.S. Department of Justice says Luna Rosado directed smuggling operations from at least Aug. 2022 until at least March 2024.

It says the people arrived in Canada by air, then Luna Rosado used shared cellular location data to guide them to northern Vermont, where they were picked up and driven to New York City.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press