B'deshi national arrested for conspiring to illegally bring immigrants into US

A Bangladeshi national has been arrested in the US for his role in a scheme to smuggle undocumented immigrants from Mexico into America.

Moktar Hossain, 30, conspired to bring and brought 14 Bangladeshi nationals at the Texas border in exchange for a fee from March 2017 to August 2018, the US Department of Justice said.

He operated out of Monterrey, Mexico, where he maintained a hotel that housed immigrants before they were transported to the US border by drivers paid by him.

US Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo in the Southern District of Texas ordered that Hossain be held pending transfer to Laredo for further criminal proceedings.

"Protecting our country from illegal immigration and the national security threat it poses is a priority for the Department of Justice," Assistant Attorney General Brian A Benczkowski of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said.

San Antonio, the Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), said the agency will continue to work with federal law enforcement partners to maintain the integrity of the US border and the safety of its communities.