Mexican National Receives 42 Months for Cross-Border Tunnel Smuggling

Ricardo Guadalupe Dominguez, a Mexican national, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison on May 14, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso for his role in an alien-smuggling conspiracy that used cross-border tunnels and storm drains.

The sentence applies directly to Dominguez, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented migrants. Federal prosecutors presented evidence that he coordinated the movement of individuals through underground passages linking Mexico to the United States near El Paso.

The tunnels and connected storm-drain systems have served as conduits for both drug and alien smuggling, with prior federal cases documenting the passage of more than 200 migrants through similar infrastructure in the El Paso sector since 2022.

The conviction changes the operational status of one documented facilitator from active to incarcerated. Dominguez will serve the full term in the Bureau of Prisons followed by three years of supervised release. The prior state allowed him to remain at large pending sentencing; the new state places him immediately into custody at a designated facility.

Downstream, the sentence removes a node in the smuggling network that relied on precise knowledge of tunnel access points and drainage schedules. Federal agents must now map any remaining associates who used the same infrastructure, while the Department of Homeland Security gains additional leverage in plea negotiations with lower-level operatives caught in the same corridor.

The Bureau of Prisons will assign bed space and transportation within 30 days under standard sentencing guidelines. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must prepare removal proceedings that will activate upon completion of the criminal term.

This marks the latest federal prosecution tied to the El Paso tunnel network. The Department of Justice has secured convictions against at least seven individuals for tunnel-related smuggling offenses in the Western District of Texas since January 2024.

The tunnels themselves were first publicly mapped by U.S. Border Patrol in 2016, and their use for alien smuggling expanded after 2021 as surface crossings faced heavier enforcement.