A 23-year-old woman from Laredo has pleaded guilty to being involved in a child smuggling ring that transported young children across the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced.
Vanessa Valadez admitted to conspiring with family members to smuggle children, all under the age of five, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the United States between August and September 2023. The smuggling ring used falsified documents and sedatives to facilitate the illicit transportation of the children for financial gain.
