Washington, Aug 12 — A New York woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping smuggle migrants into the United States across the Canadian border, the Justice Department said.
Stacey Taylor, 43, admitted to her role in an international smuggling conspiracy after US authorities intercepted her vehicle near Churubusco, New York, in January 2025, a media release said.
Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for profit. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Her sentencing is scheduled for December 3. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
According to court documents, US Border Patrol agents stopped Taylor’s vehicle during the early hours of January 20, 2025. They found four men inside.
Authorities determined that three of the men were Indian nationals and one was from Canada. All four had entered the United States illegally without inspection after walking across the border in freezing weather.
The men crossed through a wooded area before getting into Taylor’s waiting vehicle. She then began driving them away from the border and further into the United States, prosecutors said.
An examination of Taylor’s cellphone showed that she had received the migrants’ coordinates and instructions on where to collect them.
After agents stopped the vehicle, Taylor admitted that she had picked up the four men and expected to be paid for transporting them, according to the Justice Department.
Investigators also found text messages on her phone indicating that she had participated in several other smuggling operations during the preceding days.
Taylor’s alleged involvement continued after her January 2025 arrest. Authorities stopped her during another suspected migrant-smuggling operation in August 2025.
The Justice Department said Joint Task Force Alpha’s work has so far resulted in more than 477 arrests in the United States and abroad, over 431 US convictions and more than 370 significant prison sentences. It has also led to the forfeiture of substantial assets.
The US-Canada border stretches nearly 9,000 kilometres and includes remote forests, waterways and sparsely populated terrain.