A Mexican man was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of drugging and smuggling children into El Paso from Ciudad Juarez.
According to the US Department of Justice, 35-year-old Manuel Valenzuela was sentenced for drugging children aged five to 13 with marijuana candy to calm them as he and others smuggled them into the country through El Paso, presenting U.S. documents to Customs and Border Protection officers while pretending to be their parents.
According to the DOJ, during one of these smuggling operations, one of the children was transported to a nearby hospital after becoming ill as a result of the drug-laced candy.
The sentence comes eight months after Valenzuela pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport migrants, three counts of introducing migrants without authorisation for financial benefit, and one count of aiding and abetting on November 10, 2025.
“Needing to sedate children with THC under the guise of giving them candy demonstrates how heinous these crimes are,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Smuggling unaccompanied children into the country, pretending to be their parents, and then lying to US immigration officials demonstrates the lengths criminals will go to smuggle children across our borders.” The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will put a stop to this conduct. Children’s safety and border security are inextricably linked.
“We fight every day in the Western District of Texas to ensure that the people and organisations responsible for heinous crimes like this are brought to justice,” said United States Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “Criminal organisations like this one should think twice before committing this type of crime. Our message to them is this: we will find you, secure a conviction, and keep you out of society for as long as possible.”
“Drug traffickers who exploit children as part of their criminal schemes show total disregard for human life and safety,” stated Ryan G. McRae, Acting Special Agent in Charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso. Using THC-infused candy to enable the smuggling of children across the border into the United States is disgusting and inhumane, endangering vulnerable adolescents. HSI will relentlessly pursue and prosecute transnational criminal groups responsible for these despicable tactics.
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