A Pakistani man has pleaded guilty in the United States to leading an international human smuggling organization.
A Sialkot man has pleaded guilty in a US court to leading an international human smuggling conspiracy that involved shell companies, fraudulent visas and a “donkey” route through Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia and then the United States across the southern border.
49-year-old Abbas Ali Haider was extradited to the United States from Mexico in July 2025 to face charges here. After pleading guilty, he will be sentenced on July 30. Haider faces a minimum penalty of three years in prison and a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
$40,000 to bring illegal Pakistanis to the United States
According to court documents, Haider was running two fake film production companies – Diamond TV World Productions and Multimedia Advertising Ltd. It emerged that these two fake companies were based in Pakistan, but using these two companies, he illegally brought Pakistani citizens into the United States.
These people pretended to be employees of Haider’s film companies traveling for film work. They were admitted to Latin American countries through a fake visa but their final destination was the United States across the Mexican border.“From approximately September 2019 through September 2023, Haider fraudulently obtained visas for Pakistani nationals to travel to Ecuador, Cuba, and Colombia under the guise of legitimate business travel when their true destination was always the southern border of the United States.
Pakistani nationals posed as employees of Haider’s fake companies traveling to work on films, and were accepted into countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Haider’s network then guided them to the US-Mexico border where they illegally crossed into California, Texas and Arizona. “In return, Haider charged each person up to $40,000,” the Justice Ministry said.
Sending illegal aliens to the United States who are in Pakistan
Haider used his fake film companies to enter into contracts with film companies in Ecuador, Cuba, and Colombia.
He then had those companies sponsor visas for Pakistani nationals claiming to work for Haider’s companies under the guise that they were working on a joint photography project in Latin America. Haider provided Pakistani nationals with false papers indicating that they worked for his companies, which they used at ports of entry in Panama, Brazil, and Colombia.
Haider trained the foreigners to say they worked in the film industry to deceive and frustrate customs and border officials. Haider’s network of smugglers then helped Pakistani nationals travel to the US-Mexico border, where they crossed illegally into California, Texas and Arizona.Haider traveled from Pakistan to Mexico in late 2024 and was arrested in Mexico in January 2025 at the request of the US government.