Rhode Island School Solicits Funds to Pay Cartel “Coyote” Who Smuggled Illegal Alien Student Into U.S.

A scheme in which a Rhode Island student was allegedly smuggled into America by a Mexican cartel is under investigation. “coyote,” Or human trafficker.

On Thursday night, Assistant Principal Stephani Harvey, Ed.D., of Mount Pleasant High School in Providence, Rhode Island, sent an email to school staff, stating: “Hello Team: Please see the message below regarding your consideration for an urgent matter to support one of our own students here at Mount.

“We have a student who came to America with ‘Coyote,’ which is a group that helps people. This group gives you a time frame to make a payment of $5000 dollars to those, who bring them into the states. Our student needs our urgent support to raise another $2000 to meet his goal of $5000 by February 1st, 2023. Please consider helping if you can by donating on Friday. Melanea will be around to collect money between 8:00-8:45am.”

The email is referring to Melanea Lopez-Vallejo, the school’s guidance counselor, who says she is a “mission preacher,” According to her Facebook page. The student is also said to be a Guatemalan 18-year old male, according to a source close to the school, who spoke anonymously out of fear of reprisals from the school or school district.

When The Center Square first obtained a copy of Harvey’s email and contacted the school on Friday morning, the principal’s secretary, Michele Sylvia, said it was “fake.” She said Harvey didn’t send the email; no one was soliciting money for illegal activity.

The same morning, the school’s principal, Tiffany Delaney, sent an email to staff stating, “I was informed there was an email seeking financial support for one of our students. I appreciate the faculty and staff contributing to a cause that supports a student, but the nature of the request is not appropriate. All funds contributed will be returned and we will seek more appropriate methods to support our students.”

Harvey and Delaney didn’t respond to requests for comment by The Center Square. Later, a spokesperson from Providence Public School District was available. Confirmed the emails were authentic, telling Fox News “the email in question was sent to staff at Mount Pleasant High School. The school’s principal immediately took steps to have a retraction issued when she learned of the email. The Providence Public Schools District is currently investigating. “We will not comment on any ongoing personnel issues to ensure that proper processes can be followed.”

According to Ch. According to The Center Square, 11 of the state criminal law was violated by school staff. A law enforcement official pointed this out to The Center Square. They might also have broken Federal Law, 8 USC1324, which applies to “alien smuggling,” An ex-Department of Homeland Security investigator said that he spoke on condition of anonymity to The Center Square because he was concerned about reprisal.

The statute prohibits “alien smuggling, domestic transportation of unauthorized aliens, concealing or harboring unauthorized aliens, encouraging or inducing unauthorized aliens to enter the United States and engaging in a conspiracy or aiding and abetting any of the preceding acts,” Acts that coyotes engage.

An ex-DHS investigator stated that the school officials’ actions seem like something someone would say. “‘I want to sell a kilo of cocaine. Let’s raise money to buy a kilo and sell it.’ That’s engaging in conspiracy to commit a crime. Any school official claiming ignorance is not a defense for violating the law.”

Coyotes are human smugglers who work for Mexican cartels to illegally bring foreign nationals into America. Border officials told The Center Square that smugglers can face extreme violence, such as rape, starvation, and being held against one’s will. Once they are smuggled into the U.S. they owe the cartels large sums. And either Pay it off by engaging in illegal activity or becoming a victim to modern-day slave labor.

“Coyotes are some of the most ruthless people on the planet,” The Center Square heard from Thad Cleveland, Texas Terrell County Sheriff. Cleveland, who was a Border Patrol agent and pursues coyotes daily, told The Center Square. “They prey on their own people to make a dollar. I’ve seen them push illegal aliens to a point of exhaustion and even death. I’ve interviewed people that were abused by them in various ways as well. When we can apprehend and identify a coyote, we prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd, who’s leading a cartel interdiction task force in Texas, told The Center Square the assistant principal’s email “is unrealistic” and isn’t how Mexican cartels operate. The purported Guatemalan national might not be innocent, he added. Boyd and other law enforcement officers have revealed to The Center Square that cartels use teenager boys and young men who claim to be under 18 years old to smuggle into the U.S. illegally as unaccompanied minors to facilitate criminal activity for cartels.

“Cartels don’t allow indebted illegal aliens to reside freely in the United States and attend high school unless that person is there for the purpose of providing a revenue stream for the cartel,” He said. “This usually includes distributing drugs, recruiting locals into employment with the cartel, or as was the case in the Midwest last year, the movement of local teenage girls into cartel custody for forced prostitution.

“One of the hazards of not being aware of the fact that Mexican cartels have a presence in every city in the US is that it allows them to operate with little fear of prosecution,” Boyd agreed. “Law enforcement and citizens alike need to be aware of the fact that if they have drugs and/or illegal aliens in their community (we all do), Mexican cartels are operating and living in their area.”

Nicole Solas, a parental rights advocate and resident of South Kingston, Rhode Island, who first publicized the emails, told The Center Square, “It’s important for parents, students, and taxpayers to know how many illegal alien unaccompanied minors are in our public school system, how many came who were trafficked by cartel coyotes, and what if any role school districts, principals or others are involved in facilitating alleged criminal activity.

“An assistant principal allegedly soliciting money on school property, using school resources to facilitate funding alleged cartel-related criminal activity should trouble everyone. The border crisis isn’t just at the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s in our public schools right here in Rhode Island, several thousand miles north. Parents and taxpayers deserve answers and I encourage everyone to submit public records requests to get them.”