A Pakistani man pleaded guilty to leading an international human smuggling conspiracy that used fake film production companies as cover to bring Pakistani nationals illegally into the United States, federal prosecutors announced.
Abbas Ali Haider, 49, of Sialkot, Pakistan, operated two sham Pakistan-based companies — Diamond TV World Productions and Multimedia Advertising Ltd. — to fraudulently obtain visas for Pakistani nationals, according to court documents. From approximately September 2019 through September 2023, Haider arranged for individuals to travel to Ecuador, Cuba and Colombia under the pretense of legitimate business travel, when their actual destination was the southern U.S. border.
Posing as employees of Haider’s fictitious companies traveling to work on film productions, the Pakistani nationals were admitted into countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Haider’s network then guided them overland to the U.S.-Mexico border, where they illegally crossed into California, Texas and Arizona, prosecutors said. Haider charged each person as much as $40,000 for the service.
Haider was extradited to the United States from Mexico in July 2025, according to the Justice Department.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States for private financial gain and bringing in illegal aliens for profit. Haider is scheduled to be sentenced July 30 and faces a minimum penalty of three years in prison and a maximum of 10 years. A federal district court judge will determine the final sentence after considering U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, prosecutors said.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin P. Murphy of Homeland Security Investigations San Diego.
Homeland Security Investigations Calexico led the U.S. investigative effort, working alongside HSI offices in Brasilia, Quito, Tijuana and the Caribbean, as well as HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Miami and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also provided assistance, according to prosecutors.
The case was investigated and prosecuted under Joint Task Force Alpha, a Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security partnership targeting human smuggling and trafficking by transnational criminal organizations. To date, the task force has secured more than 455 arrests, 400 U.S. convictions and 350 significant prison sentences, prosecutors said.
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