Houston, May 8, 2025 — The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) has announced the successful conclusion of Operation Heartless, a multi-year international investigation that dismantled a Colombian human smuggling network exploiting the U.S. travel system.
On April 29, DSS special agents from the Houston Field Office, with support from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, arrested Johana Cuervo Castrillon in Houston, Texas. Cuervo, who had overstayed her U.S. visa, is the seventh and final suspect apprehended in the operation. She faces charges related to conspiring with a Colombia-based human smuggling ring and is set to be deported to Colombia under Title 8 authority.
Launched in January 2024 by DSS agents and criminal investigators at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Operation Heartless began with a probe into Alvaro Andres Trivino Hernandez. Trivino was suspected of fraudulently assisting Colombian citizens with U.S. nonimmigrant visa applications from his law offices in Bogotá and Medellín. Investigators discovered that a large number of applicants used authentic Florida death certificates to falsely claim they needed to attend funerals in the U.S., enabling them to expedite visa appointments.
The investigation revealed that Trivino collaborated with Cuervo to obtain legitimate death certificates and provide them to visa applicants as fraudulent documentation. Cuervo was part of a Colombian human smuggling network that earned over $1.2 million from the illegal scheme, which assisted more than 1,500 individuals in fraudulently applying for U.S. visas.
The operation culminated on October 18, 2024, with the arrest of Trivino and five accomplices by DSS and Colombian National Police. Cuervo, however, remained at large until DSS agents tracked her to Houston.
“Operation Heartless ended a criminal enterprise that exploited the U.S. travel system and threatened the integrity of our borders,” said Joe Jung, Acting Deputy Assistant Director of the DSS Office of Investigations. “DSS is making America safer thanks to excellent criminal investigative work and invaluable support from our embassy colleagues and Colombian partners.”
DSS emphasized that its global reach and strong international partnerships allow it to effectively conduct transnational criminal investigations in collaboration with U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies.
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