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Indian national sentenced to prison for smuggling non-citizens into US
Rajat Rajat actively promoted the scheme by purchasing flights for his ‘customers’ and communicating directly with them, and advising non-citizens on how and when to clandestinely enter the United States.
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Staff Reporter1
- Thu, 24, Apr 2025
- 00:18 EDT
- 135
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Representative Image / Pexels
Rajat Rajat and three others were indicted by the US Court in Seattle to five months in prison in connection with a scheme to smuggle non-citizens across the northern border for profit. Acting US Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said the group, connected to two smuggling episodes in November and December 2023, have been jailed for Conspiracy to Bring in and Transport Certain Aliens for Profit.
US District Judge Tana Lin noted that Rajat played a critical role in the smuggling conspiracy, arranging travel and paying co-conspirators. She said Rajat, a Santa Rosa – California resident, perpetuated the cycle of exploitation inherent in the smuggling process.
Miller told the court that Rajat, 27, was a mid-level manager of the smuggling scheme. The accused directed non-citizens where and how to cross the border, and even fronted some travel costs for them and for the co-conspirators. “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to stop the illegal border crossings that undermine US security,” Miller said.
The statement cited records filed in the case, highlighting that the two smuggling events involved eight different citizens of India. It said surveillance technology caught multiple people, on Nov. 27, 2023, jumping a fence near the Boundary Village Apartments in Blaine, Washington. The fence is a quarter mile east of Peace Arch Park and Border Patrol agents near the apartment saw five people run to a white minivan. Border Patrol stopped the vehicle and found five citizens of India in the van with Bobby Joe Green, a California resident, as the driver.
Three of the non-citizens told the US Border Patrol agents that they saw the defendant Sushil Kumar at Peace Arch Park prior to crossing the border illegally. Investigation revealed that Kumar and Rajat, who was employed as a truck driver, directed the non-citizens on where and how to cross the border, and paid Green to transport them from the border.
In December 2023, Rajat met Indian nationals in Peace Arch Park and allegedly directed them how to cross through the park and get into a car parked near the border. However, the car was stopped and the non-citizens were caught. Rajat was picked up near the border. The statement said the non-citizens had promised to make monetary payments to be smuggled into the United States.
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The prosecutors told the court that this was an organized, coordinated, transnational scheme that operated repeatedly, over an extended period of time. “Rajat’s role in the organization was not one that can be considered minor, he was essential to its function.”
They said the accused acted as a middle-level manager in the smuggling organization, paying his co-conspirators for their involvement, and directing their roles. “Rajat actively promoted the scheme by purchasing flights for his ‘customers’ and communicating directly with them, advising non-citizens on how and when to clandestinely enter the United States.”
As such, Judge Lin ordered Rajat to serve three years of supervised release following prison. She noted that he will likely be deported following his prison term. This case came to light after Sushil Kumar, 36, of Santa Rosa was sentenced in March 2025 to six months in prison and three years of supervised release. Furthermore, Green was sentenced to four months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Sneha, 20, an Indian national who is the fourth defendant and in the US on a student visa, is scheduled to go to trial in January 2026. Her case is being investigated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HIS) and the US Border Patrol.
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