A former leader of an international drug trafficking organization that ferried cocaine with a target of the United States was recently sentenced to 33 years in prison, the Justice Department announced. The consequences, which follow sentences of life in prison for two of the defendant’s siblings also involved in the operation, rebuff the idea that the southern border is effectively open and the Biden administration is resisting meaningful action to advance national security in the area.
The defendant, Marta Julia Lorenzana-Cordon, hails from Guatemala, and the government in that Central American country assisted in her transfer to the U.S. The trafficking of which Lorenzana-Cordon was accused extended across about a decade, and she admitted last year to criminal allegations of “conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported to the United States,” the Justice Department said.
Though this defendant’s reported involvement in the criminal organization’s leadership started later, its activities go back to the late 1990s. Lorenzana-Cordon’s two siblings who were hit with life in prison were both convicted at trial rather than pleading guilty, which is generally expected to facilitate a reduction in sentencing… even if that still leaves the defendant with decades in prison. The defendant’s father, meanwhile, also pleaded guilty to criminal allegations here in the United States and received 23 years in prison, although he has since died.
Republicans are consistent in their claims of an “open border,” though even an extensive roster of federal personnel actually involved in border security have attested to Congress that robust enforcement of the law continues. House Republicans continue demanding action on the southern border amid a concurrent push for advancing foreign aid passed by the Senate, with the lower chamber’s Republicans specifically advocating for policies including a return to forcing some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed.
