Mexican citizen pleads guilty to charges of organizing human smuggling operation that killed 13 immigrants from that country and from Guatemala in a traffic accident recorded two years ago near the US border.

Jose Cruz, 49, a lawful permanent resident of the United States and a native of Mexicali, Baja California, pleaded guilty Tuesday, March 21, in Southern California District Court, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Cruz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to introduce undocumented immigrants and three more for the same reason for profit. The sentencing is scheduled for June, according to the agency.

Prosecutors accused him of Watch the ill-fated smuggling operation March 2, 2021. According to the Justice Department, he recruited drivers, collected payments, and arranged for his associates to cut a hole in the border fence through which two SUVs stuffed with immigrants slipped into California.

One of those cars in which 25 people traveledcollided with a tractor-trailer at a highway intersection outside the Holtsville farming community, about 130 miles east of San Diego, California. The accident killed 13 people, including the driver. According to authorities, 12 survivors were hospitalized.

US Border Patrol agents individually found others 19 people from the second SUV huddled in nearby bushes after their car inexplicably caught fire.

According to the prosecution, both cars, designed for eight passengers and stripped of all but two seats to accommodate more people, were part of the same smuggling operation.