3rd man gets prison time for trying to smuggle people from Canada into North Dakota

A U.S. Border Patrol agent speaks with media at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry in Buffalo, N.Y. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

FARGO, N.D. — A New Jersey man has been sentenced to a year-and-a-half in federal prison for trying to smuggle people from Mexico across the U.S.-Canada border into North Dakota.

Jose Gonzalez-Resendiz, 41, was sentenced Monday, becoming the third man sentenced in the scheme. On July 13, Armando De Dios-Carrillo received a two-year sentence, and Victor Manuel Perez-Aguilera was sentenced to 18 months. All three men pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens into the U.S.

Prosecutors say the conspiracy involved smuggling a group of people from Mexico across the border from Canada into North Dakota in March, with plans to eventually move them to other U.S. locations. In exchange, the smugglers would be paid thousands of dollars by each person.

Authorities said the plan fell apart when a pickup truck carrying the people got stuck in the snow. The truck was towed and later seen by Border Patrol agents at a hotel in Langdon, North Dakota, where the smugglers and some of the people they brought into the U.S. were staying, according to prosecutors.