Havana/Cuban Juan Manuel Sifontes Sinales pleaded guilty to the crime of migrant smuggling and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The federal district judge of Texas Nelva Gonzales Ramos specified that once he completes his sentence, and because he is not a US citizen, he will be deported.
The conduct of Sifontes Sinales, the judge stressed, “demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life.” The investigation confirmed that the Cuban coyote is responsible for the illegal entry of 25 migrants into the United States.
Of the total, a group of 19 people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador was located on October 17, 2025 in the bed of a Freightliner truck driven by the convicted man. When passing the unit through a Back Scatter device (X-ray), the agents found anomalies inside. In a second inspection at the checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, they found a false wall constructed of wood, covered with thin fiberglass panels and aluminum flashing.
“Border Patrol agents discovered a small access door to a compartment that measured about 2.4 meters high, 1.2 wide and 2.4 meters long in which the migrants were standing, without food or water,” the authorities reported.
Sifontes Sinales, according to investigations by the Homeland Security Investigations Office (HSI) attached to ICE, maintained contact with several coyotes and the person in charge of a hideout to coordinate the transfers. According to the records, the Cuban had passed through the same checkpoint where he was detained six times.
The man, a resident of Houston, claimed to be a merchant and stated that he bought fresh fruit to sell to local stores in the city.
Juan Manuel Sifontes Sinales used a valid Spanish passport with an approved visa waiver that granted him permission to enter the US as a visitor.
Juan Manuel Sifontes Sinales used a valid Spanish passport with an approved visa waiver that granted him permission to enter the United States as a visitor on September 9, 2022. The Cuban arrived at Miami airport on a flight from Havana.
Three days after his admission, he was denied an extension of his stay permit, although the authorities did not specify dates. During the period that he was legally in the country, he obtained a driver’s license and employment authorization card, which he showed when he was arrested last October.
There is a history of Island coyotes operating in Texas. In 2024, Enrique Nerey Valdivia He was found guilty of the crime of migrant smuggling. The 50-year-old faces up to five years in federal prison.
In March of that same year, two Cuban residents in the United States were accused by the Border Patrol of being coyotes after being captured in the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, while transporting 23 illegal migrants in a truck.
In August 2023 she was brought to justice Nahara Candelaria Milan26 years old, for migrant smuggling. A traffic violation in Eagle Pass (Texas) and her nervousness when requesting her documents gave away the Cuban woman, who was inspected by the authorities. In his truck he had seven undocumented migrants.
In the same month, Cuban Julio César Aspiazu Gómez was prosecuted for trying to take five migrants to Texas who were deported to Mexico shortly after.
