Man Sentenced For Role In Human Smuggling Under Detroit River

DETROIT, MI — A Canadian man was sentenced in Detroit Monday to 16 months in prison for his part in an illegal immigrant smuggling case, according to a release from the Department of Justice's Eastern District of Michigan office.

Juan Antonio Garcia-Jimenez, 53, a Guatemalan native and citizen of Canada, will also pay an $8,680 fine, a $600 special assessment and be subject to a year of supervised release. A taxi driver in Ontario, Garcia-Jimenez dropped six people off at the Canadian side of the Detroit River tunnel, through which freight trains run.

An investigation by the U.S. authorities, as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, revealed that between July 30, 2018, and Aug. 25, 2018, Garcia-Jimenez sent six people through the 1.6-mile tunnel.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Fairchild said the walkway is only 17 inches wide and in poor condition, WDIV reported.

Kris Grogan, spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the tunnel is a dangerous place. "There is zero room. If a train would have come through there they would have been killed," Grogan said, according to the WDIV report.

The illegal immigrants were arrested at the Detroit side of the tunnel, prosecuted, and deported to their native countries, the Justice Department said in their release.

“I am sorry for what I have done,” Garcia-Jimenez said in court, the WDIV report said.