Andres Carrillo-Hernandez

Introduction

Andres Carrillo-Hernandez, 27, a citizen of Mexico, pleaded guilty in federal court in Buffalo to alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum penalty of three years in prison, a maximum of 10 years, and a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the plea, which was entered before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. According to the plea agreement, on March 15, 2026, Carrillo-Hernandez drove a motorized inflatable raft carrying three passengers, none of them United States citizens — an adult male, an adult female, and a nine-month-old child — across the Niagara River and the United States-Canada border at night, in water approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit, to the shoreline of Grand Island, New York.

Background Information

Carrillo-Hernandez, 27, is a citizen of Mexico. The charge to which he pleaded guilty, alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, is a federal offense carrying a mandatory minimum of three years in prison, a maximum of 10 years, and a $250,000 fine. The case was heard in the Western District of New York, where Judge Richard J. Arcara took the plea, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brendan W. Fitzgerald and Evan K. Glaberson. The plea resulted from an investigation by U.S. Border Patrol, conducted under the direction of Acting Chief Patrol Agent James D’Amato. The release offers no further details about Carrillo-Hernandez’s background, occupation, family, or immigration history beyond his Mexican citizenship and his age.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pleaded guilty; sentencing pending.

According to the plea agreement, on March 15, 2026, Carrillo-Hernandez boarded a motorized inflatable raft vessel on the Niagara River shoreline near Boyer’s Creek, Ontario, Canada. Three individuals, none of whom was a citizen or national of the United States, boarded the vessel with him: an adult male, an adult female, and a nine-month-old child. Carrillo-Hernandez then drove the vessel across the Niagara River and the United States-Canada border to the United States shoreline near West River Road in Grand Island, New York. The crossing occurred at night, and the water temperature of the Niagara River was approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit — conditions that put three passengers, one of them an infant, onto an open motorized raft in near-freezing water under cover of darkness.

Once on the American shore, Carrillo-Hernandez stayed aboard the vessel while the passengers disembarked and proceeded further into the United States. Shortly afterward, Border Patrol Agents apprehended Carrillo-Hernandez and the passengers near West River Road, at which time official immigration records checks were conducted. Carrillo-Hernandez told law enforcement officers that he expected to be paid approximately $2,000 to transport the passengers into the United States from Canada aboard the motorized raft vessel — the expected payment that supplies the commercial-advantage and private-financial-gain element of the offense to which he pleaded guilty.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. The release describes no other crossings, no prior smuggling ventures, and no additional defendants connected to the March 15, 2026 voyage, and it does not say what became of the three passengers after the immigration records checks.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The plea was announced publicly by U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, whose office framed the prosecution as part of the Operation Take Back America initiative. The release contains no statements from the passengers, from border communities, or from the court, and no commentary beyond the announcement of the plea, so no public reaction beyond the prosecution itself is described. The concrete consequences on the record are the felony guilty plea with its mandatory minimum of three years and maximum of 10, the potential $250,000 fine, and the apprehension of Carrillo-Hernandez and all three of his passengers — including a nine-month-old child — by Border Patrol agents on the Grand Island shoreline shortly after the raft reached the United States.

Current Status

Carrillo-Hernandez has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing. He admitted the conduct in a plea entered before Judge Richard J. Arcara to alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, and sentencing is scheduled for March 15, 2027, at 11:00 a.m., before Judge Arcara. At that hearing he faces a mandatory minimum of three years in prison, a maximum of 10 years, and a fine of up to $250,000. The release does not describe where Carrillo-Hernandez is being held in the interim, any terms of the plea agreement beyond the charge to which he pleaded, or any cooperation he may be providing.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The conduct admitted in the plea — piloting an inflatable raft across a border river at night, in roughly 32-degree water, carrying an adult male, an adult female, and a nine-month-old child, for an expected payment of about $2,000 — pairs a human-smuggling felony with the commercial motive that sets its penalty floor at a mandatory minimum of three years. The voyage ended within moments of landfall, when Border Patrol agents apprehended everyone near West River Road on Grand Island. For a 27-year-old citizen of Mexico, the plea resolves the smuggling charge but leaves the sentencing exposure — up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine — to be decided in March 2027. Beyond his age, his citizenship, and the expected payment for the crossing, the release describes no further details about Carrillo-Hernandez’s life or circumstances.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, “Illegal alien from Mexico pleads guilty to smuggling three other aliens into the United States”, October 28, 2026 — source