Woman arrested in Oklahoma accused of being 'top five' human smuggler in Albuquerque

A woman is federally charged with conspiring with another person to smuggle three migrants from the southern border to Albuquerque in October.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said Yajair Lara, 39, “is considered one of the top five human traffickers in Albuquerque” by law enforcement. Lujan Grisham’s office said Lara is the leader of a smuggling group that made $500,000 and ran a migrant stash house in Albuquerque.

Federal court records, however, state that a co-conspirator told agents another person “is the boss and runs the smuggling organization.”

Both Lara and that person — who has not been arrested and authorities have asked not be identified — face a charge of conspiring to transport “an alien within the United States,” according to federal court records.

The Governor’s Organized Crime Commission, headed by 2nd Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman, partnered with New Mexico State Police and Border Patrol to arrest Lara in Oklahoma City on Wednesday evening and the Governor’s Office said Lara will be extradited to New Mexico.

Nancy Laflin, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said the stash house was in the 7300 block of Inwood NW, in a neighborhood east of Unser and Ladera. The property was “one of many stash houses that investigators believe Lara used,” she said.

Lara gave an officer that address as her residence when she was cited in May for speeding and not having insurance on Interstate 10, south of Las Cruces, according to court records. At the time, Lara had two children and two teenagers in the car with her.

Court records show Lara has addresses listed in Albuquerque and El Paso, Texas, and a vehicle that’s insured in Oklahoma.

Laflin said she could not release more details as much of the federal investigation into Lara, which began last summer, remains under wraps. No specifics were given on the alleged smuggling operation run by Lara and those allegations are not outlined in online federal court records.

“This is a victory in our battle against the scourge of human trafficking,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement Thursday. “The arrest of a top trafficker sends a clear message that we will not tolerate the exploitation of our most vulnerable. This is just the beginning — we will continue to work with law enforcement and advocates to see that justice is served.”

On Oct. 21, a woman identified as “co-conspirator” was stopped at a checkpoint north of Las Cruces with three undocumented migrants in the car, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. The woman told agents Lara called and asked her to pick up the migrants at a gas station in Las Cruces and take them to Albuquerque.

Agents said the woman told them after the pickup, the alleged ringleader, identified as “Defendant (2),” asked her to call when she got to Albuquerque “because the previous address given to her had been compromised.” The woman also told agents Lara would send her money and the names of drivers arrested for smuggling migrants “so she could deposit money into their jail (commissary) accounts.”