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Over the course of five years, including seven people who died in a car accident in 2023, federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested and charged two leaders of a criminal organization that allegedly smuggled more than 20,000 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala to the United States.
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, aka “El Jefe” and “Turko” and Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, were arrested last week and pleaded not guilty to numerous charges related to immigration at the US border. A federal judge ordered that a man in the country illegally was jailed without being held.
The man comes to life in prison, faces the possibility of death penalty and plays us as Aty. Joseph T. McNally said he had announced the charges at a press conference Monday.
Lawyers for Renoj-Matul and Mejia-Chaj did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The crimes filed in the indictment show criminal groups that act mercilessly in ignoring our country’s immigration laws and do not consider the immigrants they smuggled,” McNally said.
According to McNally, the human smuggling case was part of a week-long series of events focused on revitalizing existing immigration enforcement activities. Dozens of criminal charges have been filed against undocumented immigrants with criminal records who were removed from the United States after a felony conviction and then returned, according to McNally.
The US Border Patrol provided the operation with about 50 agents linked to a human smuggling incident last Friday.
Friday’s arrest prompted fear of immigration and customs enforcement “raids” in Los Angeles. Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesman for ICE, previously said there was “continued investigation into human smuggling.”
According to the indictment filed last week, the Renoj-Matul Transnational Criminal Organization has been operating for at least 12 years and focused on transporting immigrants from Guatemala. Federal authorities have called it one of the nation’s largest human smuggling organizations.
The charges say that Helmer Obispo Hernandez is also the supervisor of the EU and driver teams within the organization, Jose Pakstor Oxraj, who was allegedly working as a driver.
While the search warrant was executed Friday, Obispo Hernandez allegedly called law enforcement agents and threatened to “cut their heads” to kill the agent and his family. Obispo-Hernandez, who remains a fugitive, is also linked to those threats.
“These actions show just how violent this organization is,” he said.
According to the charges, Paxtor-Oxlaj was allegedly involved in a car accident on November 21, 2023, and November 21, 2023, in which he killed seven people he transported to Los Angeles, including three minors. According to McNally, one of the people killed was four years old.
The organization appeared on radar in 2021. Border Patrol agents from I-10 Indio Station said they noticed undocumented immigrants in Guatemala moving west from points in New Mexico and Arizona.
“One of the most complex and widespread smuggling organizations is now out of business,” Bovino said. “Border security is being created. That doesn’t just happen.”
Renoj-Matul is said to have collaborated with fellow Guatemalans who recruited immigrants to come to the US, claiming $15,000-$18,000 each. According to the accusations, Li, inside the Renoj-Matul organization, led a team of densely packed drivers and stashhouse drivers and smuggling cells.
Mejia-Chaj, known as the “right arm” of Renoj-Matul, is said to have run a hidden home on James M. Wood Boulevard in the West Lake area. The immigrants were transported elsewhere in the country after smuggling fees were paid, according to the indictment. If the fee is not paid, they are said to be held against their will.
The smuggling continued even after the fatal car crash in Elk in 2023, which was allegedly caused by Paxtor-Oxlaj. In the 2024 incident, the undocumented immigrant, mentioned solely by the initial MMA, was reportedly held against her will for three months when the $15,000 smuggling fee was unpaid.
The indictment says that after a third party replied to pay the MMA smuggling fee, the others in Guatemalan were called the woman’s mother and threatened to hurt her daughter.
Last year, on August 7, an unindicted co-conspirator called MMA’s mother accused her of a law enforcement search for Wood House the previous month. According to the indictment, three unidentified people from Guatemala traveled to the home of MMA’s mother in Guatemala, threatened her with firearms and demanded payment.
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