A British beautician accused of attempting to smuggle $6.2 million worth of cocaine into Chicago O’Hare Airport allegedly tried to deceive Immigration and Customs Enforcement to facilitate her deportation and evade prosecution.
Kimberly Hall, 29, is said to have presented herself to ICE officers in February after being freed on an electronic monitoring tag.
Hall managed to arrange a flight and was prepared to leave Illinois for her hometown, Middlesbrough, in England until Cook County Prosecutors learned of her suspected plan, according to claims.
However, the alleged scheme backfired severely when a judge rescinded Hall’s electronic monitoring and ordered her to be jailed, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Judge Michael McHale wrote that Hall was ‘almost successful in her attempt’ to flee the United States and had a flight back to the UK booked before cops realized what was happening.
Prosecutors haven’t outlined whether ICE agents were aware of the charges Hall was facing while assisting her in her alleged scheme to flee back to Britain.
Hall was caught carrying 100 pounds (43 kilograms) of cocaine through O’Hare Airport in August 2024 after getting off a flight from Cancun, prosecutors say.
She was about to board a connecting flight home to the UK when she was apprehended.
She is said to have admitted to investigators that she’d been given the bags during a trip to Mexico and asked to take them back to Manchester in England.
Hall’s attorney Brandon Hall sought to play down her involvement at the time, saying: ‘Kimberly is obviously a very small fish in a grander scheme of things.’
Kimberly Hall is said to have tried to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport her to her native Britain after she was allegedly busted with $6.5 million of cocaine at Chicago O’Hare Airport
Hall, pictured shortly after her August 2024 arrest, was on the verge of boarding a flight home to the UK to evade justice, prosecutors allege. She had been released from jail on an ankle tag just before the alleged escape attempt
Hall, pictured in a newer mugshot, says she had been asking about how to get a job when she was taken into ICE custody
But Hall was charged with two class X felonies – controlled substance trafficking and possession with intent to deliver.
She was indicted by a grand jury in September 2024, with prosecutors asking for Hall to remain behind bars over fears she was a flight risk.
A judge refused, instead ordering her to hand over her passport and don an ankle monitor so authorities could keep tabs her whereabouts.
Hall’s attorney Carter claims the alleged drug mule had actually been detained by ICE while seeking information about finding a job in the United States.
‘The kiosk official saw the electronic monitoring device on Ms. Hall and assumed it was from ICE and instructed her to go to their office in the same building,’ Carter’s motion said.
‘When she spoke to an ICE official she was arrested and placed in custody.’
Carter even suggested the ‘wildly unpredictable’ Trump administration was to blame for the drama amid an ongoing crackdown on migrants.
He suggested ICE agents had overreacted to an honest enquiry about finding work, which prosecutors have now interpreted as a bid to flee.
Carter wants Hall released from jail again and a hearing to determine whether she should remain behind bars has been scheduled for May 16.
Hall was nabbed after arriving at Chicago O’Hare (pictured) on a connecting flight in August 2024
She claims she was asked to carry a bag containing what she believed to be $250,000 in cash from Cancun in Mexico to Manchester in England
Hall, speaking while on house arrest, says she had been offered a freebie trip to Mexico while on vacation to Portugal and accepted the offer because she needed ‘a bit of breathing space’
Hall said last year: ‘I am not guilty of what they’re saying I am.’
She said she was enjoying a leisure trip to Portugal when she was offered a free trip to Mexico by two men who asked her to bring a case full of cash to the UK.
Hall said she’d accepted the trip because she needed ‘a bit of breathing space’ and claimed the two men she met ‘certainly didn’t come across as being criminals.’
Hall was initially freed on house arrest and was only allowed to leave the property where she was staying for two days a week.
Its location has not been disclosed and it is unclear if Hall has to pay for her accommodation.
She faces 60 years behind bars if convicted of the charges she faces.
