The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says a Cuban national has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in an international ‘alien’ smuggling, asylum fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
‘[Erik]Ventura-Castro was part of a complex conspiracy responsible for smuggling aliens into the United States on a massive scale,’ said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
According to court documents, Erik Ventura-Castro, 24, of Hialeah, Florida, between January of 2021 and June of 2025, ‘conspired with others to operate an alien smuggling organization (ASO), which encouraged or induced thousands of Cuban aliens to enter the United States through the southern border and used fraudulent Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and visa waivers.’
The defendants advertised their smuggling services and bogus visa services across multiple social media platforms to solicit Cuban nationals and other ‘aliens’ to attempt to illegally enter the United States and fraudulently obtain lawful status in the United States.
‘The alien smuggling organization advertised services included assisting Cubans with making false claims of European citizenship to enter the United States on a European tourist visa waiver or ESTA and filing hundreds of fraudulent ESTA applications with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), using fake addresses and fabricated documents,’ the DOJ said.
To obtain admission under the ESTAs, it said the defendants made false representations that the applicants had not been in Cuba since 2011.
‘The defendants knew that Cubans are not eligible for the ESTA program, and that the applicants were actually in Cuba at the time the ESTA applications were submitted,’ the DOJ said.
It said Ventura-Castro furthered the conspiracy by advertising trips for ‘aliens’ to travel from Cuba to the United States through third-party countries and assisting the ‘aliens’ in obtaining fraudulent ESTAs.
The DOJ said the defendant submitted over 40 electronic payments to USCIS for fraudulent ESTA applications.
As part of the conspiracy, the DOJ said ‘aliens’ were charged between US$1,500 and US$40,000 for smuggling services.
In addition, the DOJ said Ventura-Castro and co-defendants conspired with each other to regularly move funds to companies operating outside of the United States and to other places outside the United States, such as by purchasing international flights for ‘aliens’ to travel into the United States.
Ventura-Castro transmitted over US$97,000 from the United States to the Cayman Islands, Colombia and Mexico to purchase flights for ‘aliens’ to unlawfully enter the United States.
Ventura-Castro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit ‘alien’ smuggling for financial gain and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments on May 7.