Delco Man Admits To Smuggling Migrants To Philly Area

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — A Delaware County man pleaded guilty in connection with a conspiracy to help smuggle and encourage and induce dozens of migrants from South America to enter the United States illegally so that he could profit from their labor.

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said Cesar David Martinez-Gonzalez, 39, of Chester, was convicted Tuesday.

According to authorities, Martinez-Gonzalez and others sought to illegally smuggle citizens of South American countries into the United States across the U.S.-Mexico border, and to encourage and induce them to enter the United States. This conspiracy's goal was to provide Martinez-Gonzalez and other with personal financial gain.

Martinez-Gonzalez fronted money to "coyotes" in Mexico who guided migrants across the Rio Grande and through holes in the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and provided them with information to give to Customs and Border Protection so that they could be released on parole to his residences.

Martinez-Gonzalez then paid for airplane flights to bring the migrants to Philadelphia, and, once they arrived, transported them to houses in and around Chester.

He and his associates would then impose upon the migrants thousands of dollars in "debts" owed to him, which the migrants would have to pay off through working long hours at low-paying jobs and forfeiting half of their wages to the defendant.

Martinez-Gonzalez also helped the migrants obtain false identification and low paying jobs. The debts imposed by the defendant were well in excess of what it cost to get the individuals to Chester and house them there.

Martinez-Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18, 2025. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 120 years in prison.

"Martinez-Gonzalez took advantage of vulnerable migrants for his own financial benefit," Romero said. "He induced them to come to the United States, then imposed thousands of dollars of so-called ‘debts,’ which they had to repay through weeks or months of labor. My office and our partners will continue to target these human smugglers, who both prey on disadvantaged populations and flout our country’s immigration laws."