Ghanaian soldier jailed in United States for illegally smuggling humans
29th September 2022
File photo
A Ghanaian soldier who admitted to bringing Mexican nationals into the United States illegally has been jailed.
He is said to have participated in such an act while wearing a uniform as a member of a larger group of soldiers implicated in the plot.
On September 20, Emmanuel Oppong Agyare, 22, and Ralph Gregory Saint-Joie, 19, received prison terms of 21 and 13 months, respectively.
Saint-Joie was an active-duty soldier, and Oppong Agyare was in the Pennsylvania National Guard. They both worked at Fort Hood in Texas.
Authorities found two undocumented immigrants in the trunk of the car after stopping the pair at a border checkpoint near Hebbronville, Texas.
According to the Justice Department, the two were hired to smuggle the immigrants from McAllen, Texas, a border town, to San Antonio, a distance of 240 miles.
When they first picked up the two Mexican citizens at the border in June 2021, they each received $100 for gas money, but it is unclear how much they were paid when the task was over.
To avoid being questioned by authorities, Oppong Agyare and Saint-Joie were told to wear their uniforms throughout the smuggling. According to court documents, the recruiter informed the duo that "the same strategy succeeded in prior smuggling events."
The two service members were employed by Isaiah Gore, 20, together with Denerio Williams, 22, and Ivory Palmer, 21, who admitted guilt to counts of people smuggling in December 2021. Williams received a 24 month term, while Gore received a 30 month sentence. Palmer is waiting for his punishment. The three troops were all from Texas.
Usually, soldiers who serve time in prison are released from their obligations.
For more than a year, there has been a significant military presence on the U.S.-Mexico border. The majority of those soldiers are drawn from the roughly 5,000 Texas National Guard members who are a part of Governor Greg Abbott's problematic Operation Lone Star mission, which has been covertly curtailed lately.