A California woman is facing up to 10 years in prison for attempting to smuggle her husband 鈥� who is not an American citizen 鈥� into the U.S. at an East Kootenay border crossing earlier in the spring.
On Aug. 25, 2025, Tracy Routh Lautenslager, 53, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring aliens into the United States at a location other than a designated port of entry during an appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto at a courtroom in Billings, Montana.
Additional sanctions possibly include a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme outlined the details of the government's case in a statement on the Department of Justice website.
The DOJ alleges that on April 1, 2025, a vehicle operated by the defendant entered the United States through the Roosville border crossing south of Jaffray on the Canadian side, then proceeded to the Swisher Lake area, which is just east of the of the Lake Koocanusa reservoir in Montana.
Later that morning, the U.S. Border Patrol was alerted to a lone male walking across the international boundary line from Canada to the United States.
U.S. Border Patrol responded and searched for the man who entered illegally. However, after searching, they were unable to locate him and believed he returned to Canada.
However, RCMP on the Canadian side were able to apprehend the man and escorted him to the Roosville border port to be identified and processed.
The man is the defendant鈥檚 husband, a British citizen, who has no lawful status in the U.S.
Meanwhile, at around the same time her husband was apprehended, Lautenslager returned to Canada to look for him.
However, Lautenslager was denied re-entry into Canada and was interviewed by law enforcement in the U.S. During the interview, she admitted they planned to have her husband circumvent the immigration process because he did not have legal status.
The plan was to drop her husband off at a location on the Canadian side of the border, drive into the United States, and then pick him up.
The defendant鈥檚 cell phone was searched with her consent, and law enforcement discovered text messages between her and her husband as the conspiracy was unfolding and discussing logistics.
A sentencing is set for Jan 6, 2026.
