Migrant drowns while being smuggled into California, feds say. Two are going to prison

Two men were sentenced to several years in prison over the death of a 43-year-old passenger during an attempt to smuggle 14 Mexican citizens into the U.S.

Victor Alfonso Soto Aguilar and Jose Ramon Geraldo Romero were sentenced to 71 and 60 months in prison, respectively, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a Dec. 13 news release.

Defense attorneys representing Soto Aguilar and Geraldo Romero did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Dec. 14.

According to court documents, U.S. Border Patrol agents noticed a panga boat west of La Jolla, California, on May 20 at around 5:20 a.m. Next to the boat were numerous people in the water who were in distress.

The agents called San Diego Lifeguards Services for help. The lifeguards rescued eight people from the water and two landside, but the remaining occupants in the boat continued to move north for a quarter-mile, where the boat finally reached land, records show.

At that point, 15 people were apprehended by Border Patrol agents, and one person was declared dead at the scene. All of the people onboard were Mexican citizens, documents show.

All of the passengers said in interviews that they had paid $12,000 to $15,000 to be smuggled into the U.S. They identified Soto Aguilar as the captain of the panga and Geraldo Romero as an assistant to the captain, according to court documents. They both admitted to acting in those roles and were arrested.

Investigators said passengers on the boat told Soto Aguilar and Geraldo Romero that they didn’t want to continue the trip after the boat’s engine began to malfunction. The passengers made two phone calls in an attempt to end the trip, but Soto Aguilar and Geraldo Romero said they couldn’t make a third call because they would get in trouble, sentencing documents said.

Because of engine trouble, the panga stalled in the water, and passengers were forced to stay inside the boat without enough food or water, the release said. Soto Aguilar and Geraldo Romero dropped the passengers off on an island in the middle of the ocean while they tried to repair the panga, and then picked up the passengers and headed toward La Jolla.

When the panga was about 80 yards from the shore, the two men asked the passengers to remove their life jackets and attempt to swim to shore, the release said. Twelve passengers did so but struggled to stay afloat and cried for help. The two passengers who stayed in the boat tossed them life jackets, the release said.

Two of the passengers told investigators that they remembered seeing Soto Aguilar going in reverse to pull a body out of the water. Geraldo Romero tried to resuscitate the person but was unsuccessful, documents said.

The two men then headed toward another beach, where they were apprehended by law enforcement, the release said.

According to court documents, Soto Aguilar, 36, was a fisherman who grew up in San Felipe, Mexico. Independent fishermen were having a difficult time competing with commercial fishermen in Mexico, and Soto Aguilar thought opportunities may be better in the U.S. He was told by a contact that he would not have to pay for his own transport there if he piloted the panga on the way, his sentencing memorandum said.

The memo also said Soto Aguilar and Geraldo Romero did not have life jackets on while all 14 of the other passengers were given theirs, and that Soto Aguilar wanted to end the trip, having complained that the panga was over capacity and the engine was malfunctioning.

Geraldo Romero’s sentencing memorandum said he had worked in construction since he was 16 but had been unemployed for several months because of the pandemic. He was also told he would not have to pay the smuggling fee if he helped pilot the boat, the memo said.

The two men were charged with one count of attempted bringing in illegal aliens resulting in death and three counts of attempted bringing in illegal aliens for financial gain, the release said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Migrant drowns while being smuggled into California, feds say. Two are going to prison."