Treasury Targets Guatemalan Human Smuggling Organization for Illegal Transport of Migrants to the United States

Action Taken in Coordination with U.S., Mexican, and Guatemalan PartnersWASHINGTON — Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization (Lopez HSO), a transnational criminal organization (TCO) based in Guatemala. Human smuggling is a federal crime that includes bringing migrants into the United States illegally, as well as unlawfully transporting and harboring migrants already in the country. Working with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components and other U.S. and foreign partners, OFAC sanctions aim to disrupt and ultimately dismantle these networks’ operations, which threaten the national security of the United States.“The Lopez HSO sought to smuggle thousands of migrants into the United States through an illegal transnational operation that exploited those in search of a better life for themselves and their families,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E.