ALBANY, NEW YORK – Edgar Placencia-Guaillas, age 22, and a citizen of Ecuador, was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. Acting United States Attorney Daniel Hanlon and Chief Border Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia of the United States Border Patrol, Swanton Sector, made the announcement.
As part of his earlier guilty plea, Placencia-Guaillas, an illegal alien who entered the United States unlawfully in 2022, admitted that on August 25, 2024, he traveled to the northern border in Chateaugay, New York, where he smuggled two people – one from Mexico, the other from the Dominican Republic – into the United States for profit. Placencia-Guaillas admitted that he had smuggled other people across the border in the past.
Placencia-Guaillas will be taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation proceedings following his release from prison.
Border Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Paulbeck prosecuted the case.
