Indian man sentenced for smuggling non-citizens into U.S. from B.C.

Canadian and U.S. flags fly atop the Peace Arch monument at the Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

An Indian man has been sentenced to five months in a United States prison for helping to smuggle eight Indian nationals into the country by illegally crossing the border between British Columbia and Washington state.

A statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Seattle says 27-year-old Rajat Rajat was connected to two smuggling incidents at the Peace Arch border crossing in late 2023.

Authorities say surveillance video caught five people jumping a fence near the Boundary Village Apartments in Blaine, Wash., approximately 400 metres east of the Peace Arch crossing, and then running into a white minivan on Nov. 27, 2023.

U.S. border officials stopped the van and arrested five citizens of India and a 68-year-old California man who was behind the wheel. Three of the Indian nationals told authorities that Rajat had instructed them on how to cross the border illegally, according to the statement.

Authorities say Rajat collected money from the migrants and paid the minivan driver to transport them from the border.

The U.S. attorney’s office says Rajat met with three more Indian citizens in Peace Arch Park the following month, directing them to cross the border through the park and get into a car waiting on the American side.

The car was stopped and searched by U.S. border officials, and the occupants allegedly told investigators they had promised to pay Rajat later for smuggling them into the U.S.

Rajat was arrested near the border and charged with conspiracy to bring in and transport aliens for profit.

“Mr. Rajat was a mid-level manager of this smuggling scheme, directing noncitizens where and how to cross the border, and even fronting some travel costs for them and for co-conspirators,” acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said in a statement announcing his prison sentence Wednesday.

“We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to stop the illegal border crossings that undermine U.S. security.”

Prosecutors in the case described the smuggling operation as an “organized, co-ordinated, transnational scheme that operated repeatedly, over an extended period of time,” according to the attorney’s office.

“Mr. Rajat’s role in the organization was not one that can be considered minor. Rather, he was essential to its function,” the statement said, noting Rajat purchased flights for his Indian clients and instructed them on how and when to clandestinely enter the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Seattle sentenced Rajat to five months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. However, the attorney’s office said Rajat, who had been living in California prior to the charge, is likely to be deported following his release from prison.

Sushil Kumar, a 36-year-old co-conspirator in the smuggling operation, was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of supervised release in March. Bobby Joe Green, the minivan driver, was sentenced to four months in prison and three years of supervised release.

A fourth defendant, a 20-year-old Indian woman who is in the United States on a student visa, is scheduled to go to trial for her alleged role in the operation early next year, according to the statement.