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The latest ICE target has been the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization, also known as the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization (LHSO), is a Guatemala-based human smuggling network tied to money laundering, cartel alliances, and the trafficking of migrants into the United States.
Since 2020, the group’s operations have expanded rapidly across Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S., fueled by rising migration flows under the Biden administration’s open border policies and strategic partnerships with criminal syndicates like the Juarez Cartel.
Democratic lawmakers and mainstream media have recently criticized ICE for its April 24, 2025, raid on a home in northwest Oklahoma City, part of Operation Take Back America, a long-running investigation into transnational human smuggling.
Surveillance confirmed that members of the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization remained tied to the property through utility records and legal ownership.
ICE executed a valid warrant authorizing the seizure of devices and documents related to human trafficking and money laundering, regardless of the current occupants.
Alarmingly, judges and lawmakers have worked to block ICE raids and deportations of dangerous criminals and gang members from Latin America, although the national security and public safety case for these actions remains strong.
The day after the ICE operation in Oklahoma City, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against eight Guatemalan nationals, including Cidia Marleny Lima Lopez, for leading a multi-year smuggling operation into the U.S.
Like many transnational criminal organizations, the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization is a sophisticated, multinational enterprise that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars by exploiting border vulnerabilities and laundering illicit profits through U.S. banks and mobile payment apps.
Between September 2020 and April 2023, the group is estimated to have smuggled thousands of people from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States, charging roughly $5,000 per person and earning between $104 million and $416 million in illegal proceeds.
The Lima Lopez organization has operated across the Americas for at least four years, smuggling migrants from Central and South America as well as China. While its exact founding date remains unclear, U.S. investigations intensified between 2020 and 2023.
The group relies on stash houses and covert transport networks within the United States, operating a highly coordinated, market-driven smuggling enterprise.
Its rapid expansion reflects broader trends in transnational organized crime across Central America’s Northern Triangle, where weak governance and economic hardship have allowed criminal networks to thrive.
In collaboration with La Linea (Juarez Cartel), the organization has used cartel-controlled routes to move migrants through Mexico and into the U.S. Their operations have spanned New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and reached as far as Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.
The Lima Lopez organization is a family-based transnational criminal network with leadership centered around key members of the Lopez family.
Its top figures include Ronaldo Galindo Lopez-Escobar (“Tio Roni”), a 45-year-old Guatemalan citizen based in Guatemala City, and Rosa Adriana Lopez-Escobar (“Tia Rosa”), a 38-year-old co-leader operating from Phoenix, Arizona.
The group also includes prominent associate Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in March 2025 for coordinating smuggling operations and maintaining ties to La Linea. Hernandez Perez is linked to violent crimes, including the 2019 Sonora murders.
An indictment unsealed on July 17, 2024, charged eight members of the organization’s leadership and middle management, with additional arrests made in California and Florida.
While exact membership numbers have not been publicly disclosed, the scale of operations and law enforcement actions suggests the network includes 50 to 100 active participants, ranging from senior leaders to lower-level smugglers and facilitators operating across Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States.
The organization follows a hierarchical yet adaptable structure, characteristic of transnational criminal enterprises.
The opposition within the U.S. to arresting and deporting gang-affiliated foreign nationals is troubling, especially given the extensive legal actions already taken against the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization.
Since 2021, Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), launched by the Department of Justice, has targeted the group, resulting in over 100 arrests and substantial asset forfeitures.
In May 2023, a federal grand jury indicted six alleged smugglers, leading to arrests in Arizona and California.
Another major indictment followed on July 17, 2024, when eight senior members were charged, with two apprehended in California and Florida.
That same month, the U.S. Treasury officially sanctioned the LHSO, and in March 2025, designated top leader Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez for her role in coordinating operations with the Juarez Cartel.
These repeated indictments and sanctions make clear that U.S. judges and federal agencies recognize the group as a serious national security threat. Yet despite this, the Lima Lopez organization remains active, continually evolving its smuggling tactics and financial strategies to evade enforcement.
Arresting gang members, deporting illegal aliens, and firmly signaling that the border is closed would go a long way toward reducing human trafficking.
It would also cut off a major source of income for the cartels, hopefully beginning to chip away at their power in Mexico and Latin America.
