U.S. officials say a Colombian man who was living in Quebec has been extradited and arraigned in connection with the case of a pregnant Mexican woman who died while trying to cross a frigid river after illegally entering the United States in 2023.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the northern District of New York has charged Jhader Augusto Uribe-Tobar, 36, with three smuggling-related counts in relation to the death of Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores.
The body of 33-year-old Vasquez-Flores was found in the Great Chazy River near Champlain, N.Y., on Dec. 14, 2023, two days after her husband alerted a border patrol agent that she had not emerged from the woods on the American side of the border.
In a news release, U.S. attorney Carla Freedman said the tragedy highlights the dangers of illegal migration and how smugglers put people in danger for profit.
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“By vigorously prosecuting human smuggling networks, we are …