DEL RIO, TX – A Mexican national appeared in federal court in Del Rio following his extradition to the United States to face charges tied to an international alien smuggling organization accused of bringing thousands of individuals across the U.S.-Mexico border for profit.
Efrain Zuniga-Garcia, 37, was charged in a September 2023 indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas. He faces one count of conspiracy to bring illegal aliens into the United States and three counts of bringing illegal aliens in for profit.
According to court documents, from November 2020 to September 2023, Zuniga-Garcia operated a stash house in Monterrey, Mexico, where individuals were housed before being guided across the Rio Grande River. The organization, which included partners in Brazil, San Antonio, and other locations, smuggled between 2,500 and 3,000 people from countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador.
Co-defendant Enil Edil Mejia-Zuniga, a Honduran national and coordinator of the smuggling operation, was sentenced in July 2025 to the statutory maximum of 120 months in prison. Another co-defendant, Monica Hernadez-Palma, was extradited from Mexico in January 2025 and pleaded guilty in April. She is scheduled to be sentenced in November.
Zuniga-Garcia was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 following coordination between U.S. and Mexican authorities. His case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.
If convicted, Zuniga-Garcia faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
The investigation was led by HSI Del Rio, in coordination with HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a DOJ-led initiative to dismantle cartels and transnational criminal organizations involved in illegal immigration and violent crime.
