Drug lord's daughter pleads guilty, deported
Drug lord's daughter pleads guilty, deported
Written by Greg Moran
8:20 a.m., Dec. 19, 2012
A pregnant woman who said she was the daughter of Sinaloa drug cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has pleaded guilty to trying to enter the U.S. with a bogus visa, and was immediately ordered returned to Mexico.
Alejandrina Giselle Guzman Salazar pleaded guilty in front is U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo on Monday. The hearing was held three days ahead of a previously scheduled hearing for Salazar, who was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Oct. 12.
She admitted in her plea agreement that she tried to use a visa that belonged to another person to get into the U.S. Under the terms of a plea agreement, she was sentenced to time already served since her arrest in October, and agreed to be immediately returned to Mexico and not challenge the order.
In return for her guilty plea, other charges of lying to a federal officer and identity theft were dropped.
When she was arrested she reportedly told Customs and Border Protection officers that she as the daughter of the feared drug cartel leader.
At the time she was seven months pregnant, and was reportedly trying to get to Los Angeles to give birth to her child.
Guadalupe Valencia, one of her lawyers, said Wednesday that she has not yet given birth.
"She's eight months pregnant and still has some time to go," he said. "Her child will not be born here."
The U.S Attorney's office in San Diego has not confirmed that Alejandrina Guzman Salazar she is the daughter of Chapo Guzman, and there is no mention of it in the 14-page plea agreement she signed.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy declined to confirm or deny if she was the daughter of the drug lord.
Valencia said that the case did to get any special treatment or handling from the government. Pleading guilty and agreeing to immediate administrative deportation is common for scores of immigration cases that go through the federal courts here.
The Sinaloa cartel controls much of the drug smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border from its home base in the state of Sinaloa, and it is often described as the world’s most powerful drug-trafficking group.
Chapo Guzmán has made the Forbes magazine list of most powerful people since 2009, and ranked number 1,153 on its list of billionaires.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/19/drug-lords-daughter-pleads-guilty-returned-mexico/
Woman said to be Mexico drug kingpin's daughter deported from U.S.
By Marty Graham
SAN DIEGO | Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:00pm EST
(Reuters) - A woman said to be the daughter of a notorious Mexican drug lord arrested at the U.S. border in October has pleaded guilty in California to using a false passport and has been deported, court records show.
A pregnant Alejandrina Gisselle Guzman-Salazar, 31, was detained after she tried to cross on foot from Tijuana into the United States using a false visa and name, telling customs agents that she wanted to give birth to her child in Los Angeles, according to court documents in the case.
During a search of her purse, the agents found a Mexican driver's license and a voter card, also in the false name, according to a motion filed by federal prosecutors.
The Los Angeles Times has reported, citing an unnamed high-ranking U.S. law enforcement official, that Guzman-Salazar told agents at the border that she was the daughter of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
A federal official who asked not to be identified has also told Reuters that she was the drug kingpin's daughter.
But prosecutors and her defense attorneys have declined to confirm that Guzman-Salazar is related to El Chapo.
Guzman-Salazar pleaded guilty on Monday to a single count of fraud and misuse of visas and documents, according to court documents. U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo sentenced Guzman Salazar to the time she'd already spent in detention.
Prosecutors dismissed five other counts and she was deported before she could give birth to her child.
"The government treated her just like anyone else caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally for the first time," Guzman-Salazar's attorney, Guadalupe Valencia, said. "They treated her fairly regardless of who she is or who she says she is."
El Chapo, whose nickname means "Shorty" in English, escaped a Mexican prison in a laundry basket in 2001 to become the country's highest-profile trafficker, hauling tons of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin to U.S. markets in trucks, ultralight aircraft and through clandestine tunnels.
Included on Forbes list of billionaires since 2009, Guzman has been indicted in the United States on dozens of charges of racketeering and conspiracy to import narcotics. Washington has a $5 million reward for the capture of El Chapo.
In recent months, U.S. and Mexican agents have arrested traffickers close to him and seized his assets on both sides of the border. Among those targeted by the U.S. Treasury Department was Maria Alejandrina Hernandez Salazar, reported to be Guzman-Salazar's mother.
Guzman's third or fourth wife, Emma Coronel, made headlines last year when she traveled to Los Angeles to give birth to twins. (Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Richard Chang)
Woman said to be Mexico drug kingpin's daughter deported from U.S. | Reuters
