MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA) — A federal district choose in Miami sentenced a 25-year-old lady to seven and a half years in jail Friday for her position in a voyage that left greater than a dozen folks lifeless as they tried to illegally enter the USA.
Yaquelin Dominguez-Nieves, a Cuban nationwide who entered the nation illegally in October 2022, pleaded responsible to alien smuggling conspiracy and associated fees earlier this 12 months, in keeping with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.
Solely a month after getting into the U.S., officers mentioned Dominguez-Nieves and her boyfriend started planning to illegally smuggle 18 Cubans by boat from the island, by way of the Florida straits, and into the nation at Florida’s coast.
They charged admission for the journey and picked up a complete of round $11,500 from the migrants’ households in South Florida with guarantees to get their family members throughout the ocean safely.
All 18 folks boarded a fishing boat on Nov. 16, 2024, and left from Playa Jaimanitas. The boat was solely about 30 miles into the journey when authorities mentioned it started to sink, leaving solely two survivors.
Lots of these killed included youngsters, and officers mentioned three of their our bodies washed up in Monroe County. Their reason for loss of life was listed as “drowning.”
The 2 survivors mentioned the boat was too small for 18 folks. There have been additionally no lifejackets onboard, and the captain didn’t appear to know what he was doing, they reported.
On Friday, U.S. District Choose Beth Bloom mentioned she determined to offer Dominguez-Nieves a sentence larger than that really useful by the advisory federal sentencing tips as a result of severity of the offense.
