MCALLEN, TEXAS (AP) -- A Mexican man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his role in the 2004 drowning of nine Central American immigrants.
The nine died when the vehicle in which they were being smuggled plunged into a South Texas canal.
Joel Cardenas-Meneses had been convicted in a McAllen federal court on 11 counts of bringing and harboring illegal immigrants.
He was in charge of recruiting Central American immigrants for the smuggling ring, getting them to the border city of Reynosa, Mexico, and coordinating their trips across the border.
On Aug. 9, 2004, a 17-year-old driving the immigrants away from the river one night with his headlights off drove into the canal, drowning the nine Honduran and Salvadoran immigrants.
It was the most severe sentence assessed several co-defendants.
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