Horizon City smuggler known as ‘Panda’ admits to sneaking 2,500 undocumented migrants into the U.S.
HORIZON CITY, Texas (KVIA) -- 35-year-old Horizon City resident Isai Orona, also known as Panda, will spend 54 months in federal prison for human smuggling conspiracy.
Court documents state that Orona organized a human smuggling scheme. Federal prosecutors say that he would use WhatsApp to coordinate the smuggling. Prosecutors say that when Border Patrol agents caught Orona's co-conspirator smuggling nine undocumented migrants in El Paso, the car in use was registered to Orona.
Officials arrested Orona on November 20, 2023, he pleaded guilty on July 12, 2024 to one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one county of transporting aliens. Orona also admitted to smuggling over 2,500 undocumented migrants during six months of 2023, prosecutors say.
"Many car loads of undocumented noncitizens were transported to Albuquerque, New Mexico and on to other locations," a spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Texas said. "He also admitted to having a network of drivers to transport the undocumented noncitizens in at least 12 vehicles, which he obtained or helped others to obtain. In addition to Orona’s imprisonment, the court entered a money judgment against him in the amount of $250,000."