Operation Sentinel to Target Transnational Human Smuggling Organizations

The Biden administration is launching a new inter-agency operation, dubbed Operation Sentinel, targeting transnational criminal human smuggling organizations against the backdrop of Border Patrol locating 250 migrants who died during their journey in Fiscal Year 2020.

A DHS statement said in addition to having little regard for migrant lives, these organizations are complicit in sexual assault and abandonment of vulnerable migrants, including children.

On April 27, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced the administration’s anti-smuggling effort. “Transnational criminal organizations put profit over human life, with devastating consequences,” Mayorkas said, “With the help of our federal and foreign partners, we aim to cut off access to that profit by denying these criminals the ability to engage in travel, trade, and finance in the United States.”

Both domestic and foreign partners in Operation Sentinel will “target all personnel and identifiable resources that transnational criminal organizations require to operate.” In its statement, DHS said the operation will map the organizations’ networks, and target their members, associates, and assets. Examples of targeted actions and sanctions include: revocation of travel documents, suspension and debarment of trade entities, and freezing of bank accounts and other financial assets tied to transnational criminal organization networks.

Operation Sentinel comes on the heels of an administration agreement to help train a Guatemalan task force charged with securing its border and stemming uncontrolled migration.

Operation Sentinel partners include U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigators (ICE HSI), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the U.S. Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).