On March 26, a coordinated law enforcement effort between the United States and Brazil led to the disruption of a transnational criminal organization involved in human smuggling. The operation resulted in the arrest of a previously deported individual in Worcester, Massachusetts, and multiple arrests in Brazil related to the same network.
The arrested individual in the United States, Flavio Alexandre Alves, also known as “Ronaldo,” aged 41, faces charges of conspiracy to smuggle aliens into the United States for commercial or financial gain. He was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Worcester and appeared in federal court on the day of his arrest.
Court documents allege that Alves participated in a scheme to transport individuals from Brazil through Mexico and into the United States. His role reportedly included buying airline tickets for further travel within the U.S., transferring funds to Mexico, and collecting smuggling fees. Alves has a past conviction for human smuggling in California in 2004 and was deported to Brazil in 2005. However, he allegedly reentered the U.S. without legal status.
Alves is accused of purchasing over 100 airline tickets from Tucson or Phoenix to cities in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania from May 2021 to August 2022, sometimes for migrants coming into contact with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers or recently released from detention.
In addition to Alves’ arrest, four others connected to the smuggling organization were detained on immigration violations by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) offices in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia, assisted by partner agencies.
The investigation was part of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) and the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program. JTFA, a Department of Homeland Security partnership, targets smuggling networks impacting public safety and border security in several countries. To date, JTFA has achieved numerous arrests, convictions, and asset forfeitures related to human smuggling.
The ECT program, a collaboration between the Justice Department and ICE HSI, focuses on smuggling networks posing national security or public safety threats. It utilizes dedicated investigative, intelligence, and prosecutorial resources and collaborates with other U.S. and foreign agencies.
ICE HSI New England spearheaded the U.S. investigation with support from multiple ICE HSI offices and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.
Authorities emphasize that a criminal complaint is merely an allegation and that Alves is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
