Woman sentenced to 10 years in smuggling attempt that killed migrant near Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES — An Anthony woman has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for a 2023 flight from Border Patrol agents that led to the death of an immigrant attempting to cross Interstate 10 on foot.

Georgina Ramirez, 44, pleaded guilty last year in federal court to transporting immigrants unauthorized to be in the U.S. and to fleeing an immigration checkpoint at high speed, receiving a concurrent sentence of five years on the second charge, following a sentencing hearing Thursday. After completing her term, Ramirez would be subject to three years of supervised release.

Just after midnight on Sept. 20, 2023, Ramirez pulled into the Border Patrol checkpoint on the westbound side of I-10 outside Las Cruces and presented her driver’s license to agents. According to a criminal complaint, she had five passengers in her SUV, headed for Deming. Border Patrol agents stated that when they asked Ramirez to lower the rear driver’s-side window to look inside the vehicle, she claimed the window wasn’t working and then hit the accelerator, speeding away from the checkpoint.

Six miles west, agents said Ramirez pulled onto the highway’s median and told her passengers to run. As everyone fled on foot, one passenger, identified in court documents as Julio Cesar Llivisupa-Bau, attempted to cross the highway and was struck by a semi truck, dying at the scene. According to the complaint, four of her passengers — including the deceased individual — were not legally present in the U.S.

After Border Patrol agents took Ramirez and the remaining passengers into custody, she reportedly confessed to picking up the immigrants in Sunland Park, temporarily housing them in her home in Anthony and attempting to transport the passengers to Deming, for money; and to attempting to evade Border Patrol at speeds topping 90 mph, switching off the car’s lights as she fled from the checkpoint.

A sentencing report states that her phone, searched under a federal warrant, held messages from a suspected scout advising her about checkpoint activity, plus videos and photographs believed to be “proof of life” documents depicting the passengers.

Ramirez is to be transferred from Doña Ana County Detention Center to a federal facility in Texas, according to the sentencing document.