fifth suspect pleads guilty after family of 4 killed
Stephanie Square has pleaded guilty to charges related to a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of a Romanian family in the St. Lawrence River in 2023. She faces a potential life sentence for her role in the incident.
Why it matters
The case highlights the dangers of human smuggling operations and the legal consequences for those facilitating illegal border crossings.
A fifth suspect has pleaded guilty in a human smuggling case that resulted in the death of a family, including two young kids under three years old, in the St. Lawrence River in March 2023.
Stephanie Square, 53, a dual Canadian-American citizen from the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
According to court documents, Square was a U.S. leader of a human smuggling organization that regularly trafficked migrants across the U.S.-Canada border in Akwesasne, the First Nations territory on the Quebec-Ontario border that also straddles the New York state border.
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