New York woman charged with smuggling Indian nationals into US
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New York: A 42-year-old New York woman has been charged in connection with an international smuggling conspiracy under which individuals, primarily from India, were illegally brought into the United States across the border from Canada.
Stacey Taylor, from Plattsburgh, New York, appeared for an arraignment this week after a federal grand jury in Albany returned an indictment in October charging her with her role in the smuggling operation, according to an official statement on Friday.
Court records indicate that US Border Patrol agents intercepted Taylor’s vehicle near Churubusco, New York, close to the Quebec border, in the early hours of January. Inside her vehicle, agents found four foreign nationals—three Indian citizens and one Canadian—who had crossed the US-Canada border illegally without inspection.
Subsequent examination of Taylor’s cellphone revealed text messages indicating her involvement in multiple other smuggling ventures in the days preceding her arrest. Since her January 2025 apprehension, Taylor has been implicated in smuggling activities as recently as September 2025.
According to the indictment, Taylor faces charges of conspiring with others to engage in alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for profit, three of which are classified as second or subsequent offences.
If convicted, she faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison per count of alien smuggling for profit, with additional penalties for second or subsequent offences, said Matthew Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
With PTI inputs