Pakistani National Pleads Guilty to Running International Human Smuggling Operation

Abbas Ali Haider faces up to 10 years in federal prison for taking $40,000 each from Pakistani people to help them illegally cross the U.S. southern border.

Unauthorized immigrants walk along a desert road after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on Sept. 22, 2024. John Moore/Getty Images

A Pakistani national pleaded guilty in federal court April 30 to charges related to running an international human smuggling conspiracy that included transporting illegal immigrants from Pakistan to the United States using fake film production companies, federal prosecutors announced.

Abbas Ali Haider, 49, of Sialkot, Pakistan, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tucson in July 2025 and was extradited to the United States from Mexico that month. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States for private financial gain and profit.