A young Florida woman was charged for her alleged involvement in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of 16 migrants including children off Cuba's coast, authorities said.
Yaqulelin Dominguez-Nieves, of Sebring, was arrested on June 12 by special agents with the Coast Guard Investigative Service, according to a Friday news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
The 25-year-old allegedly facilitated the operation on Nov. 16, 2022, which ended in deaths when the boat the migrants were on sank 30 miles off the coast of Cuba while in transit to Florida, prosecutors said.
Four of the people who died were found at sea and determined to have died by drowning. A survivor said the boat was overloaded and didn’t have any life vests on board.
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“Human smuggling ventures put people’s lives at risk for the sake of profit,” U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida said. “Human smugglers prey on the migrants’ hopes for a better life. Tragically, the smugglers’ exploits pose a grave danger to migrants. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with our partners to prosecute those who carry out illicit human smuggling operations to protect vulnerable migrants and save lives.”
If convicted, Dominguez-Nieves could face up to life in prison or even death.
