Greiby Melissa Barcelo-Velasquez, a 39-year-old Colombian national, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison by United States District Judge John J. Tuchi in Arizona. Barcelo-Velasquez was charged with conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to unlawfully enter the U.S.
Court documents indicate that over 100 individuals used her organization to illegally enter the U.S. through Arizona. Barcelo-Velasquez, since June 2023, operated the Baul Travel SAS travel agency in Colombia. The investigation began in late 2023 by the United States Border Patrol Sector Intelligence and Homeland Security Investigations, following the arrests of several Colombian nationals who identified her as their smuggling coordinator.
The individuals involved in this illegal activity were initially advised by Barcelo-Velasquez to travel to Mexico posing as tourists. Additional fees were required at airports in Cancun or Mexico City to bribe officials to facilitate their travel. In Hermosillo, Mexico, these individuals were taken to stash houses near the border, awaiting illegal entry into the U.S., often transported by armed gunmen.
The case is the result of the efforts of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), a collaboration involving the Department of Homeland Security focused on targeting cartels and transnational criminal organizations responsible for human smuggling and trafficking in Latin America. JTFA comprises personnel from various U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, among others, with support from DHS, FBI, and DEA. JTFA has led to over 355 arrests and more than 320 U.S. convictions, among other significant outcomes.
The investigation in Barcelo-Velasquez’s case was conducted by Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol Sector Intelligence Unit and Homeland Security Investigations. The prosecution was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart Zander and Adriana Genco of the District of Arizona.