Two men sentenced in deadly San Diego boat smuggling disaster

Two Mexican men were sentenced to about six years in prison for piloting an overcrowded migrant boat that capsized off San Diego, killing two men and two children.SAN DIEGO (CN) — A federal judge sentenced two men on Monday to about six years in prison for their role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of four people last year off the coast of San Diego.Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Leyva, 38, and Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 32, were both hired by smugglers to transport 19 people, including themselves, from the small coastal town of Popotla, Mexico, to San Diego on May 5, 2025. But the boat capsized within about 200 yards of the shore after its motor failed.Two men from Mexico and two children from India died during the incident.Attorneys for Leyva and Luna portrayed a sympathetic image of their clients: two best friends who grew up in an impoverished fishing village and got caught up in Mexico’s criminal underworld in an attempt to make a better life for themselves through human smuggling.The two men’s attorneys described them as driven by extreme poverty but experienced on the ocean as fishermen and divers.The men were concerned for the well-being of their passengers and even returned to port when their motor initially malfunctioned, but were forced to go back on the water again, their attorneys said. After the boat capsized, both repeatedly tried to help rescue those who could not swim to shore, they said.“That does and should merit consideration,” attorney Danielle Iredale, representing Leyva, said.Attorney Gerardo Gonzalez said Luna was one of the most decent people he has met.“His whole existence is defined by intergenerational poverty,” he said, adding that Luna’s hometown has been overrun by drug cartels. “They’ve taken an impoverished location and made it worse. He fell prey to it.”U.S. District Judge Benjamin Cheeks was receptive to the defendants’ circumstances, but found that those circumstances did not take away from the consequences of their actions.“This case is a tragedy from top to bottom, starting with your upbringing,” Cheeks, a Joe Biden appointee, told Luna. “You come from a place of great difficulty. The court recognizes that. You were trying to do something to better yourself and help your family. Unfortunately, the way you went about doing that resulted in this crime.”Cheeks criticized both men for helping pilot a small, overcrowded boat with a malfunctioning motor on an 11-hour trip through rough seas. The immigrants on the boat who were later apprehended told authorities that the two men instructed them to remove their life vests as they approached the shore.“The court cannot ignore what happened in this case, where all those people whose lives were put at risk, which culminated in terror and death,” Cheeks said. “I’m sure you had good intentions. Actions have consequences. Accidents have consequences.”Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Van Demark argued the men should not receive lighter sentences for trying to help people in the conditions they helped create.“The defendant had a number of choices,” Van Demark said of Leyva. “He had the ability to say no. He said he didn’t want to go out, but he did anyway. He was approached in particular to pilot a boat full of illegal immigrants from Mexico and four people are dead because of his actions.”Luna said the incident was one of the most painful experiences of his life.“I ask myself, what is it that hurts me most in this moment,” Luna told the court through a Spanish interpreter. “It is being away from my home. It’s making a decision that brought me here today. I regret what I did and I want to apologize to the United States and everyone.”Van Demark also criticized Luna for not mentioning the victims when addressing the court.Leyva’s father, who was present in the audience, wept as Iredale described his son’s life circumstances.“My client, but for this tragedy, would be with his family,” Iredale told the court. “It’s not lost on him that a child his daughter’s age was lost. He’s been wanting to accept responsibility since the beginning.”Attorneys for both men said the case was further complicated in May 2025 when former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released a statement calling for the death penalty against the two men.“Today’s sentences reflect the serious consequences of placing greed above human life,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a press release.Neither man had a criminal record, which factored into their sentencing.Three others were sentenced for their role in transporting the immigrants in a related case, the Department of Justice said.Both men pleaded guilty to human smuggling resulting in death in April.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads