A New York woman pleaded guilty for her role in a smuggling operation that left a migrant family deceased.
Janet Terrance, 45, conspired with five other individuals to transport Indian and Romanian citizens into the United States for “private financial gain,” a press release from the Justice Department said.
Terrance and co-conspirators “worked with a human smuggling organization (HSO) on the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation (AMIR) and in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, that smuggled aliens from mainland Cornwall to Cornwall Island, and then into northern New York,” the DOJ explained. The organization “routinely” smuggled illegal immigrants and arranged for them to stay in Cornwall motels. After being transported to the St. Lawrence River, HSO members would smuggle the migrants by boat across the river where they could then be driven into New York.
Terrance and two co-conspirators, Dakota Montour, 31, and Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, 43, admitted in plea agreements that some migrants died while being transported into the United States due to weather conditions.
“Montour admitted that he was aware of the dangerous weather conditions on March 29, 2023 — high winds, freezing temperatures, and limited visibility — yet the family of four was loaded into a small boat by another co-conspirator to cross the St. Lawrence River. The boat capsized, and the family died as a result,” the release said.
Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) Buffalo said in a statement, “The tragic deaths of two innocent, unknowing toddlers and their parents underscores the devastating impacts of alien smuggling.”
“Janet Terrance and her co-conspirators moved forward with this smuggling attempt despite the dangerous conditions and sheer illegality of the act, placing these victims in the situation that ultimately killed them,” Keegan said. “ICE HSI Massena is committed to enforcing U.S. laws at our border to protect the safety and the security of our communities.”
Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said the smuggling effort was “fueled by greed, indifference, and recklessness.
“They endangered the lives of two small children and their parents for profit, resulting in the family’s tragic deaths,” Bacon added. “Dismantling transnational criminal organizations that smuggle people into and throughout the United States is a top priority for the Department of Justice.”
