Keyword: humansmuggling

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  • Tanker truck smuggling 49 people stopped by alert agent

    07/25/2008 4:01:02 PM PDT · by pissant · 32 replies · 738+ views
    San Diego Union Tribune ^ | 7/25/08 | staff
    SAN DIEGO – Forty-nine people being smuggled into the United States were found Friday morning packed inside the metal tank of a water truck a Border Patrol agent noticed near the notorious Smuggler's Gulch. The truck was coming out of a construction area, its driver apparently trying to blend in, when the agent saw it didn't have a license plate, said Border Patrol Agent Jason Rodgers, a spokesman for the agency. Rodgers said the agent followed the truck from Monument Road and Hollister Road in an under-the-speed-limit pursuit that ended not far away with the arrest of the driver and...
  • Customs officials advertising to help human smuggling victims

    07/09/2008 9:03:26 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 151+ views
    SAN DIEGO – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are trying to reach out to human smuggling victims through advertisements featured in major cities, including San Diego. Advertisements posted on billboards and transit shelters with the slogan, “Hidden in Plain Sight” were put on display in June around San Diego county. The goal is to educate the public about the existence of human trafficking in the country and urge them to report such crimes, officials said. “These victims are domestic servants, sweat shop employees, sex workers and others lured here by the promise of prosperity, then forced to work without...
  • Mission police bust stash house after alleged sexual assault[illegals in South Texas]

    07/02/2008 5:07:19 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 6 replies · 346+ views
    The Monitor ^ | July 1, 2008 | Dave Hendricks and Jared Taylor
    MISSION -- Police busted a stash house Tuesday after a Honduran woman said she was sexually assaulted there. Officers raided the house -- at 2113 Sierra Court, near Mission Veterans Memorial High School on Mile 2 North and N. Mayberry Ave. -- about 11:25 a.m. Police had found the woman wandering along a nearby road in the wee hours earlier that morning. Police pulled over to see if she was OK and she told them she had been sexually assaulted at the brick house, Mission police spokesman Lt. Martin Garza said. The house likely sheltered illegal immigrants traveling north, he...
  • Gangs fight to control city turf

    06/04/2008 10:42:39 PM PDT · by OKIEDOC · 6 replies · 431+ views
    Imperial Valley Press Online ^ | Monday, June 2, 2008 9:40 PM PDT | VICTOR MORALES, Staff Writer
    CALEXICO — Two street gangs vying for control of a human-smuggling operation here has resulted in two shootings in a dense neighborhood near the border fence, police said. A man is recovering from a bullet wound after being shot by masked gunmen. Two other men are in Imperial County jail for their suspected involvement of an attempt to murder a rival. “We be-lieve it involves illegal alien smuggling and their attempts to cut into each other’s area and operations,” Calexico police Sgt. Gonzalo Gerardo said. Human smuggling in Calexico is lucrative: smugglers could receive as much as $1,500 per head...
  • Pastor sentenced in illegal immigrant visa scheme

    05/22/2008 7:59:53 AM PDT · by AuntB · 11 replies · 603+ views
    Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | May 20, 2008 | MARY LOU PICKEL
    A Kennesaw pastor was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday for her part in a profitable multi-state scheme to encourage illegal immigrants to file untruthful visa applications. The Rev. Emma Gerald, 56, was convicted in December of helping mostly Brazilian immigrants in Cobb County, Florida and other states file applications for temporary residency, work permits, and travel permits. "I'd like to apologize to the United States," Gerald said at her sentencing hearing Tuesday in Atlanta at the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Gerald said she "didn't think it was wrong," when she charged illegal...
  • Illegal immigrant caught on I-81 pleads guilty to driving other illegals across country

    05/21/2008 4:57:31 PM PDT · by mdittmar · 6 replies · 395+ views
    WSLS ^ | May 21, 2008 | WSLS News Staff
    An illegal immigrant pleads guilty to driving other illegal immigrants across the country for money. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Pedro Antonio Antonio Mateo admitted to the crime in Roanoke Federal Court today (Wednesday, May 21st). 10 On Your Side’s Scott Leamon first uncovered the case, after a State Police Trooper pulled Mateo over on I-81 in Botetourt Co. back in April.  Investigators say Mateo was driving a large SUV on I-81 northbound, past Troutville. Officers with the state police criminal interdiction team stopped the SUV, after an alleged traffic violation on April 11th. Federal court records show agents from...
  • Police cautious, before chasing dangerous coyotes[human smugglers in South Texas]

    04/30/2008 7:58:53 AM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 9 replies · 521+ views
    The Monitor ^ | April 29, 2008 | Sean Gaffney
    LA JOYA - Dramatic police chases with illegal immigrant-crammed trucks are common place in this small city. That pursuit, however, has often ended in dangerous chases with the desperate human smugglers widely known as coyotes. Again on Tuesday, just east of La Joya, a coyote led Peñitas police on an early morning chase that crossed four cities and ended in a crash after the driver refused to pull over for erratically changing lanes on Expressway 83. Four Honduran illegal immigrants were taken to the hospital with broken bones and other minor injuries after the vehicle they were traveling in blew...
  • BP agent rescues driverless vehicle[full of illegal aliens]

    04/02/2008 3:14:01 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 8 replies · 602+ views
    The Monitor ^ | April 2, 2008 | JEREMY ROEBUCK
    18 illegal immigrants in van in path of 18-wheeler RACHAL - U.S. Border Patrol agent Adam Ruiz had to act fast as the van full of illegal immigrants veered into the path of a hurtling 18-wheeler. Should he pursue the vehicle's driver, who bailed out on the shoulder of U.S. 281 and left the van's gear in drive? Or chase down the van and its occupants as they edged closer and closer into oncoming traffic? In seconds, Ruiz sprang into action. The eight-year agency veteran bolted toward the moving vehicle, leaped through the passenger side door and steered the vehicle...
  • Arizona motel owners sentenced for using businesses to harbor illegal aliens

    Monday, 31 March 2008 ICE-led probe results in criminal and civil forfeitures of more than $1 million PHOENIX - A federal judge has sentenced the last of the 13 owners and former owners of six motels in Mesa, Ariz., who were indicted after a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed they were using their businesses to harbor illegal aliens in support of organized human smuggling. U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Martone imposed sentences of probation, fines and forfeiture on the final two defendants in the case March 26. The owners of the motels on Mesa's Main Street...
  • Officials fear growing recklessness of coyotes[human smugglers]

    03/30/2008 11:19:56 AM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 15 replies · 691+ views
    The Monitor ^ | March 30, 2008 | James Osborne
    McALLEN - Human smugglers are employing increasingly risky and dangerous methods to transport illegal immigrants since security tightened along the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement officials said. "They're getting less area they can successfully enter," said Oscar Saldaña, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman. "That's why were seeing more of these desperate acts. And unfortunately, we anticipate there's going to be more of these types of events." On Thursday a Ford F-150 carrying more than 20 illegal immigrants collided with another vehicle on Expressway 83 in Peñitas, leaving three dead and another 14 injured. They were the latest victims of what appears...
  • Laredo Trucks Drivers, Others Charged in Massive Human Smuggling Scheme

    03/26/2008 3:25:56 PM PDT · by radar101 · 11 replies · 511+ views
    They are believed to have smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants into the United States but now, 41 truck drivers, guides, brokers, recruiters and smuggling leaders are facing criminal charges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents started the investigation in Laredo but made the arrests across several American cities over the last seven weeks. Investigators said the group used truck drivers to smuggle at least 376 illegal immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras into the United States. Most of the immigrants were discovered tractor trailers and attempting to pass through different checkpoints in and around Laredo. Most...
  • Slavery thriving in secret

    03/16/2008 9:03:22 AM PDT · by Haddit · 21 replies · 855+ views
    Daily News, Los Angeles ^ | 3/15/08 | By Tony Castro and Harrison Sheppard
    Tens of thousands of people - most of them women and girls from Thailand and Mexico, according to federal officials - are illegally trafficked each year into the United States, where they are forced to work as prostitutes, servants in private homes and laborers in sweatshops. In the past decade, the issue has aroused passions among activists as well as authorities who have poured money and manpower into fighting a war against human trafficking that surprisingly is as murky and convoluted as the battles against drugs and arms-smuggling. According to the California report issued in December - and Los Angeles'...
  • Suspected Human Smuggler Arrested For 15th Time

    02/19/2008 8:57:53 AM PST · by george76 · 22 replies · 136+ views
    TheDenverChannel ^ | February 19, 2008
    A man who already has been caught and deported 14 times has been picked up in Colorado again on charges of human smuggling. Eagle County authorities arrested Israel Robles-Gaytan during a traffic stop on Interstate 70 in Eagle County Monday morning. with 13 people who didn't have proper immigration papers. The driver planned on delivering the twelve adult males to various locations that included Denver, Iowa, and Georgia...
  • Cops: Men in I-70 traffic stop were deported nine times

    02/15/2008 1:53:10 PM PST · by george76 · 48 replies · 203+ views
    Grand Junction Free Press ^ | February 15, 2008 | Steve Lynn
    Two men who had been deported a total of nine times from the United States were jailed after sheriff’s deputies pulled over their mini van... Salvador Rodriguez-Rojas, 23, of Mexico, said the eight people in the van were family members and... Two more people were later found behind the back seat of the van... The men, who also gave sheriff’s deputies fake identification, were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling, criminal impersonation and possession of a forged instrument, all felonies...
  • $540,000 seized from city motel owners[for harboring illegal aliens]

    12/08/2007 10:33:59 AM PST · by SwinneySwitch · 53 replies · 316+ views
    VALLEY MORNING STAR ^ | December 8, 2007 | FERNANDO DEL VALLE
    Operators given probation for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants BROWNSVILLE — Federal officials seized $540,000 from four Harlingen motel owners after they were sentenced to probation for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, an official said Friday. Rakeshkumar Bhakta, 40, and wife Alka Bhakta, 35, owners of the Hudson House motel, and Kamleshkumar Bhakta, 32, and wife Falguniben Bhakta, 30, owners of the Country Side Inn motel, forfeited a total of $540,000 in equity from their businesses, said Nina Pruneda, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Antonio. U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle ordered the owners...
  • Indictments in Canada Border Crossings ( Human Smuggling Disrupted - Ogdensburg, N.Y. to Maine )

    11/28/2007 6:43:46 PM PST · by fight_truth_decay · 2 replies · 72+ views
    AP ^ | 11/28/2007 | By WILSON RING AP
    BURLINGTON, Vt.—A human smuggling operation based in Toronto and another in Montreal moved hundreds of immigrants into the U.S., with some paying $10,000 apiece, American prosecutors said Wednesday in announcing indictments against the groups. Most of the illegal border crossings took place on foot in a stretch the U.S. Border Patrol considers a prime area for smuggling because of its proximity to interstate highways that make it easy to move people once they're in the country, said Thomas Anderson, U.S. attorney for Vermont. One of the groups, apparently working with recruiters in South Korea, would meet immigrants at the Toronto...
  • Mexican Police Discover 164 Illegal Immigrants in Truck

    11/12/2007 3:45:27 PM PST · by SwinneySwitch · 28 replies · 683+ views
    VOA News ^ | November 12, 2007
    Authorities in Mexico say they have taken into custody 164 illegal Central American immigrants who were inside a truck that was supposed to be carrying aid to victims of recent flooding in the southern state of Tabasco. The National Migration Institute says 159 Guatemalans and five Hondurans were hiding in the truck when it was stopped for a routine search. The driver was arrested. Many Central American migrants pass through southern Mexico en route to the United States to seek work. Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
  • Houston major hub for human trafficking

    10/28/2007 6:17:30 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 27 replies · 657+ views
    Houston Chronicle ^ | Oct. 28, 2007 | SUSAN CARROLL
    Large ring kept up to 120 women in virtual slavery The picture, with its implicit threat, was all it took. It was taken just before Christmas 2004. She had been thinking about running away from the windowless bar on Houston's northwest side, where he kept her and other women, forcing some of them into prostitution while they paid off their "debts." But Maximino "Chimino" Mondragon knew of her plans. Carrying a camera and Christmas presents for the woman's daughter, he had appeared unannounced at her family's home in El Salvador. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, told investigators...
  • Mexican Couple Facing Federal Charges On Transporting Chinese Aliens (in TN)

    09/29/2007 6:28:00 PM PDT · by Tennessee Nana · 28 replies · 127+ views
    Chattanoogan.com ^ | September 29, 2007 | staff Writer
    A Mexican couple is facing federal charges in Chattanooga after their vehicle filled with seven Chinese aliens was stopped. Venancio Perez-Martinez and Clara Rodriguez-Anaya were arrested after their red Dodge Durango was stopped on Sept. 20 on northbound I-75 in Bradley County for a traffic violation. Officer Andy Radcliffe said he noticed several passengers in the car who appeared to be of Asian descent. He said Perez-Martinez claimed they were relatives of his wife and they were going to New York to visit other relatives. The officer asked how they could be related "being the subjects are Asian and they...
  • Agents find more than 58 illegal immigrants in single home [TX]

    08/25/2007 8:25:03 AM PDT · by Dubya · 119 replies · 1,953+ views
    The Associated Press ^ | Aug. 25, 2007 | The Associated Press
    ALAMO, Texas -- Federal agents acting on a tip found 58 illegal immigrants of various nationalities crowded in a single-story residence, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday. Agents on Thursday found 15 women and 43 men, of which there were 33 Mexicans, 19 Brazilian, three Hondurans, two Salvadorans and one Peruvian. The illegal immigrants were taken to the agency's Weslaco station pending formal removal back to their home countries.
  • Five people accused of harboring, smuggling illegal aliens enter pleas [South Texas/India]

    08/13/2007 2:56:26 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 8 replies · 437+ views
    Valley Morning Star ^ | August 11, 2007 | ALLAN ESSEX
    Five people accused of harboring or smuggling illegal aliens at two Harlingen motels entered guilty pleas Friday in federal court. Rakeshkumar Bhakta and wife Akta Bhakta, owners of the Hudson House Motel, 500 Ed Carey Drive, and his brother, Kamleshkumar Bhakta and wife, Falguniben Bhakta, owners of the Country Side Inn, 1669 N. 77 Sunshine Strip, appeared with their attorneys before U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle. The judge questioned them about their understanding of plea bargain agreements they have made with federal prosecutors. Also on trial was Domingo Santibañez, charged with alien smuggling. He was the only defendant in custody,...
  • 50 Illegal Immigrants Found in Trailer

    08/08/2007 6:00:48 PM PDT · by TornadoAlley3 · 28 replies · 757+ views
    forbes.com ^ | 08/08/07 | AP
    FALFURRIAS, Texas - Federal agents at an inland immigration checkpoint found 50 illegal immigrants locked inside a tractor trailer, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday. None of the immigrants required medical attention after they were found Tuesday, though agents said the trailer was not air-conditioned and many were sweating. All were being processed for deportation. The driver and passenger in the truck's cab were arrested and charged with alien smuggling. Their identities were withheld pending further investigation.
  • [South Texas: Illegal]Immigrants found in hot truck

    08/03/2007 4:28:16 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 9 replies · 375+ views
    Corpus Christi Caller-Times ^ | August 2, 2007 | David Kassabian
    FALFURRIAS — Customs and Border Protection Agents found 20 undocumented immigrants inside a tractor trailer Tuesday at the Falfurrias checkpoint, an agency official said. Agents stopped the tractor trailer to check the driver’s citizenship shortly after midnight, said Senior Patrol Agent Camilo Garcia. A border protection dog alerted agents to the trailer where authorities found 20 people ranging in age from 18 to 40 stuffed inside on metal crates holding what appeared to be empty punching bags, Garcia said. There was no ventilation or air conditioning in the trailer, he said. Three of the immigrants were treated for exhaustion, Garcia...
  • Bullet-riddled body of Cuban-American found in Cancun

    07/31/2007 5:56:33 PM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 5 replies · 397+ views
    Valley Morning Star ^ | July 31, 2007 | JORGE DOMINGUEZ
    CANCUN, Mexico — The body of a Cuban-American who was under investigation in a migrant smuggling case was found riddled with bullets along a road outside this Caribbean resort, authorities said Tuesday. Luis Lazaro Lara Morejon, who was wearing only white Bermuda shorts, was found handcuffed and blindfolded with duct tape late Monday night. He had been shot at least 10 times, said Didier Vazquez, the director of the judicial police in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located. Vazquez said Mexican police were investigating whether Lara was part of a Cuban-American group that smuggled Cubans from southern Mexico to...
  • (289) Mexico migrants packed into lorry

    07/09/2007 7:56:56 AM PDT · by traumer · 22 replies · 820+ views
    Mexican police say they have detained 289 illegal migrants from Latin America, including 226 Guatemalans found inside a single lorry. The Guatemalans, who were hungry and dehydrated, were discovered during a routine road check in the southern state of Chiapas, police said. In the state of Veracruz, 63 illegal migrants were found hidden in a truck. Thousands of illegal migrants pass through Mexico every year in a bid to head north and reach the US. Every space on every wagon in front and behind was taken up with illegal migrants holding onto roofs Migrants defy border security The Guatemalans were...
  • Border Disorder (Iraq War Hero Charged With Human Smuggling)

    07/09/2007 5:53:21 AM PDT · by RDTF · 11 replies · 989+ views
    newsweek ^ | July 16 Issue | Arian Campo-Flores and Monica Campbell
    Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco had just returned from a nighttime mission in Iraq in August 2004 when mortars began raining down on his camp. Worried about his fellow soldiers, most of whom were sleeping, he raced from one trailer to another to rouse them. But a mortar blast hurled him against a barricade, leaving him unconscious for two days. After returning to the United States in 2005, he was awarded a Purple Heart—an event celebrated with great fanfare in his hometown of Laredo, Texas. "You deserve this, son," his father told him. "You're one of Laredo's heroes." Which makes his...
  • Guardsmen indicted in illegal alien smuggling

    07/05/2007 4:37:50 PM PDT · by Tex Pete · 9 replies · 363+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Thursday, July 05, 2007 | The Associated Press
    LAREDO – Three National Guard soldiers accused of running an immigrant smuggling operation have been indicted on five counts of human smuggling and one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
  • Smuggling Tunnel Is Found on Arizona-Mexico Border

    06/30/2007 10:48:46 PM PDT · by 2ndDivisionVet · 14 replies · 944+ views
    The New York Times ^ | June 29, 2007 | Greg Clark
    NOGALES, Ariz., June 29 — A smuggling tunnel freshly excavated under the border with Mexico was sealed Friday after a joint raid by United States and Mexican authorities. Two houses formed the ends of a smuggling tunnel that was raided Friday. The house in the foreground is in Nogales, Ariz., and the house on the Mexican side is on the other side of the fence. The cramped and wandering tunnel, which connected two homes on opposite sides of the border had no ventilation, but it was outfitted with lights and at least one drainage pump, officials from Immigration and Customs...
  • Agents: Illegal Immigrants Found In Truck Engine

    06/28/2007 9:22:36 AM PDT · by LNewman · 33 replies · 1,247+ views
    KNBC 4 ^ | June 27, 2007 | KNBC
    OTAY MESA, Calif. -- Customs and Border Patrol officers made a surprising discovery in the engine compartment of a white Ford pickup truck Tuesday morning. Officers said they discovered three undocumented Mexican citizens -- two women and a man -- hiding under the hood as the truck attempted to cross into the Otay Mesa port of entry. Officers said the Ford F-250 entered the port at 6:30 a.m. After the man driving the truck, a resident of Tijuana, gave inconsistent answers, officers said they referred him to a second inspection area. A human-narcotics detector dog alerted officers to the hood...
  • 25 indicted in Minneapolis prostitution sting (Illegals forced to STFU)

    05/21/2007 9:41:52 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 22 replies · 2,142+ views
    KSTP.com ^ | 5'21/07 | AP/KSTP.com
    Twenty-five men and women have been indicted in what authorities are calling a major prostitution ring in which victims were brought to Minnesota illegally and forced to work in brothels, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday. According to an indictment unsealed Monday, between January 2006 and May 2007, the defendants forced or lured female illegal immigrants and others to Minnesota, then transported them around the state to act as prostitutes for the defendants' own financial gain. The women were allegedly forced to work in eight brothels in Minnesota - five in Minneapolis, one in Richfield, one in West St. Paul,...
  • Women for sale in the Gatwick (England) slave auctions

    03/09/2007 5:47:48 AM PST · by NYer · 42 replies · 2,417+ views
    This is London ^ | March 7, 2007
    Women are being sold into prostitution in modern day "slave auctions" at Britain's airports, it emerged yesterday. The illegal immigrants are sold to the highest bidder for up to £8,000 a time. They are then forced to work in brothels where they can earn up to £800 a day for their "owner". The chilling reality of human trafficking was spelled out yesterday by senior police officers at Scotland Yard. Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting, of the Metropolitan Police, said young women from all over the world are trafficked into Britain after being promised well-paid work in bars or cafes. But within...
  • Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers

    02/12/2007 10:00:57 AM PST · by AnnaZ · 48 replies · 1,428+ views
    CNN ^ | 2/12/07 | Ann O'Neill
    Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers POSTED: 9:42 a.m. EST, February 12, 2007 Story Highlights• There are more than 250,000 child soldiers fighting around the world • Children are often brainwashed and drugged before they are forced to fight • Their vulnerability can allow warlords to make them into coldblooded killers • Child advocates see some signs of progress, but a long way to go By Ann O'Neill CNN (CNN) -- Warlords are forcing children in conflicts around the world to become killing machines -- nothing more than what one child advocate calls "cannon fodder." Some children are kidnapped...
  • Dunkin Donuts owner pleads guilty to recruiting illegal aliens

    12/29/2006 6:58:51 PM PST · by Puppage · 23 replies · 1,144+ views
    WTNH Television ^ | 12/29/06 | Puppage
    (New Haven-WTNH, Dec. 29, 2006 Updated 5:55 PM) _ The former owner of several shoreline area Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and his daughter pleaded guilty Friday to charges of hiring illegal workers. The criminal case was promoted by a Team 8 investigation. Jose Calhelha and his 23-year old daughter Diana walked into New Haven Federal Court and pleaded guilty to charges resulting from our Team 8 investigation. The charges may land Jose Calhelha in federal prison for more than a year when he's sentenced. "We're looking ... to convince this judge to give the most lenient sentence possible," defense attorney William...
  • More than 40 arrested on charges of running (human) smuggling ring

    10/30/2006 7:39:06 PM PST · by calcowgirl · 2 replies · 374+ views
    AP - San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | October 30, 2006 | Arthur H. Rotstein
    TUCSON, Ariz. – Authorities arrested more than 40 people accused of operating a smuggling ring that brought at least hundreds of illegal immigrants into the country and laundered their profits, officials said Monday. The 44 arrests culminated a two-year investigation into what officials said was a family-run ring operating out of the tiny southern Arizona town of Bowie, east of Tucson. Officials said a grand jury handed down a 50-page, 728-count indictment earlier this month accusing 55 people of being involved in the scheme. Many of those arrested are American citizens, officials said. Eleven suspects, including at least five Mexican...
  • U.S. among top 3 destinations for sex traffickers in $8B trade (Nancy Pelosi's District)

    10/23/2006 2:25:13 PM PDT · by Conservative Coulter Fan · 5 replies · 686+ views
    Arizona Daily Star ^ | 10.08.2006 | Meridith May
    SAN FRANCISCO — Many of San Francisco's Asian massage parlors — long an established part of the city's sexually permissive culture — have degenerated into something much more sinister: international sex-slave shops. Once limited to infamous locales such as Bombay and Bangkok, sex trafficking is now an $8 billion international business, with San Francisco among its largest commercial centers. San Francisco's liberal attitude toward sex, the city's history of arresting prostitutes instead of pimps, and its large immigrant population have made it one of the top American cities for international sex traffickers to do business undetected, according to Donna Hughes,...
  • First Time in U.S. History a Jury Convicts an Illegal Immigrant of Conspiracy to Smuggle Himself

    10/20/2006 10:07:38 AM PDT · by az4vlad · 18 replies · 713+ views
    Intellectual Conservative ^ | October 20, 2006 | Rachel Alexander
    Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio are the only law enforcement officials in the country arresting and prosecuting illegal immigrants under an anti-human smuggling (coyote) statute An Arizona jury returned a guilty verdict against an illegal immigrant for conspiracy to smuggle himself into the country, a felony under Arizona law. Adolfo Guzman-Garcia will be sentenced for a class 4 felony, punishable by up to 3.75 years in prison, on December 5, 2006. Almost 336 illegal immigrants have been arrested and 161 have already accepted guilty pleas offered by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Thomas noted that it...
  • McCaul Releases Report on Border Violence (mexican drug cartels threaten border security)

    10/17/2006 7:35:35 PM PDT · by ajolympian2004 · 46 replies · 1,255+ views
    Committee on Homeland Security ^ | Tuesday October 17th, 2006 | US Rep. Michael McCaul
    *** NOTE*** Take your blood pressure medication before viewing this report... McCaul Releases Report on Border Violence (Tuesday, October 17, 2006) Today, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (TX), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report on border violence in the Southwest. The report examines the alarming rise in the level of criminal cartel activity, including drug and human smuggling, along the Texas-Mexico border and its effects on Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies. The report also looks at what steps are being taken to counter the threat, and the significance of these issues pertaining...
  • Stowaway Terrorists Steal Into America By Ship Container

    06/18/2002 9:21:50 PM PDT · by codebreaker · 33 replies · 274+ views
    Fairplay International Shipping Weekly V.I.A. DEBKAafile Intelligence and Security Newsletter ^ | June 18, 2002 | Bob Graham -Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
    More details have emerged about an apparent infiltration of Islamic terrorists through US ports during the past two months.Some of the men slipped through secuirty disguised as stevedores, according to Bob Graham Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.He said he had seen reports indicating that some extremists might have been wearing safety jackets and protective helmets to give the appearance of dockworkers.U.S. Coast Guard Officials have refused to divulge any information about the reports but Graham stressed: 'The American people have a right to know.'He said 25 extremists 'entered in a foriegn country, hid out in a container...
  • Terrorism and Human Smuggling Rings in South and Central America

    08/05/2006 2:38:25 PM PDT · by GodGunsGuts · 12 replies · 455+ views
    The Jamestown Foundation ^ | November 17, 2005 | Thomas Davidson
    Terrorism and Human Smuggling Rings in South and Central America By Thomas Davidson The road to the “American Dream” for many illegal immigrants usually leads from home countries through Mexico and then into the U.S. Although almost all of these illegal immigrants are merely looking for a better life for themselves and their families, world-wide human trafficking routes provide ample opportunity for those wishing harm to the U.S. easy access into America. In spite of international efforts in the Americas to break up these human smuggling routes, there are still a number of avenues available whereby the potential terrorist can...
  • MX: Stepdaughter exposes reported false document human smuggling and Social Security fraud ring

    07/02/2006 10:17:05 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 36 replies · 1,688+ views
    Daily Bulletin ^ | 7/2/06 | Sara A. Carter
    Suad Leija has many secrets. The stepdaughter of Manuel Leija-Sanchez -- a key figure in what federal authorities believe is a document fraud organization run by the Castorena and Leija-Sanchez families -- has been in hiding and on the run from her own family. To help U.S. authorities crack down on document fraud, human smuggling and a host of other international crimes, she has revealed her family business, identified relatives and shed light on a series of national security failures. Fraudulent documents allegedly produced by the families include Social Security cards, driver's licenses, passports, hazardous materials licenses, utility bills and...
  • San Diego indictment accuses 5 men of alien smuggling

    12/06/2004 8:06:25 PM PST · by gubamyster · 7 replies · 308+ views
    KESQ News 3 ^ | 12/06/04
    SAN DIEGO Five San Diego County men have been indicted on charges they smuggled illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe into the United States. The indictment unsealed today in San Diego names Yervand Asriyants, Charles Altamos, Suren Chamian, George Leyfer and Justin Peltier. Prosecutors say the men conspired to smuggle the illegal immigrants across the border, mostly by driving them across the U-S-Mexico border. Prosecutors say that between December 2001 and March 2004, the group smuggled immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland. Asriyants allegedly was the leader of the group. He and Altamos appeared in federal court today. Leyfer and...
  • Court Upholds Arizona County’s Use of Unique New Statute to Prosecute Illegal Immigrants

    06/14/2006 3:40:03 PM PDT · by az4vlad · 22 replies · 1,445+ views
    IntellectualConservative.com ^ | June 14, 2006 | Rachel Alexander
    The federal government may not be doing much when it comes to illegal immigration, but Arizona’s Maricopa County Attorney and Sheriff are. The top two criminal law enforcement officials in Arizona have teamed up to arrest and prosecute illegal immigrants crossing the border into Arizona using a new state human smuggling law, and the courts agree. Arizona is the first state in the nation to pass a law against human smuggling. Following the legal advice of Maricopa County’s tough on crime prosecutor Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began arresting illegal immigrants under the new law and referring them...
  • Judge hears challenge to smuggling charges filed against migrants (Not Migrants,...ILLEGALS!)

    05/23/2006 8:17:41 PM PDT · by SandRat · 5 replies · 353+ views
    A judge is considering a challenge to an Arizona law creating the state crime of immigrant smuggling, an offense that has drawn about 100 prosecutions and is criticized because it has been used mostly on the customers of smugglers. Lawyers for nearly all of the first 48 immigrants charged under the 9-month-old law argued the Legislature never intended it to be used on their clients for paying someone to bring them into Arizona, the nation's busiest illegal entry point. They also called the law an unconstitutional attempt by the state to regulate immigration, a legal area they contend is under...
  • Tipped off by caller, agents stop 91 entrants; driver runs

    05/20/2006 6:40:38 AM PDT · by SandRat · 75 replies · 1,379+ views
    Border Patrol agents discovered 91 illegal entrants who had been smuggled into the country in the back of a panel truck Thursday night southwest of Sonoita, an official said Friday. The Border Patrol received a call around 10 p.m. from someone concerned about possible illegal activity, said Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the agency's Tucson Sector. The caller suspected the truck was picking up illegal entrants. When Border Patrol agents from Nogales and Sonoita pulled the truck over on Arizona 82 around Milepost 26, about 35 miles south of Tucson. the driver got out and ran into the brush, Rodriguez...
  • Maricopa County Attorney News Release: Interference by Mexico Protested (pdf file)

    05/10/2006 5:01:15 PM PDT · by az4vlad · 36 replies · 1,793+ views
    Maricopa County Attorney's Office ^ | May 9, 2006 | Andrew Thomas
    INTERFERENCE BY MEXICO PROTESTED Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas Asks State Department to Intervene In a letter of protest to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, County Attorney Andrew Thomas today accused the government of Mexico of interfering in the internal affairs of Arizona by attempting to void Arizona’s Human Smuggling statute, which was enacted by a bipartisan majority of legislators and signed into law by Governor Janet Napolitano. In an attempt to undermine Arizona law Los Angeles lawyer Peter Schey, at the request of Carlos Flores-Vizcarra, Consul General of Mexico, has filed legal motions intended to thwart the prosecution of...
  • Woman convicted, husband cleared of charges in slavery trial [South Texas]

    05/06/2006 8:07:00 AM PDT · by SwinneySwitch · 9 replies · 443+ views
    The Monitor ^ | May 06,2006 | Brittney Booth
    EDINBURG — A jury convicted a Mission woman on one count of human trafficking Friday, saying she paid for two Guatemalan women to illegally cross and then work in her home and business for free. But her husband was cleared of the charge he faced in connection with the case. Jurors deliberated more than five hours, beginning at 1 p.m. before reaching their verdict. Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday. Ellilian Jud De Leon Ramos, 35, had faced two counts saying that she paid a coyote $250 to illegally transport cousins Maria de Jesus Batres and Floridalma Sales Flores...
  • Golden Venture Survivors Face Another Hurdle

    04/27/2006 5:17:20 AM PDT · by Calpernia · 5 replies · 705+ views
    Golden Venture Survivors Face Another Hurdle NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Few Americans have lived through the kind of adventures that brought Arming He to the United States from his Chinese homeland. Seeking a better life, he made a dangerous escape across a mountainous border, traveled by ship to Africa, where he was marooned for months, then crammed into the hold of a rusted freighter carrying 295 other refugees. His ordeal didn't end when the ship, the Golden Venture, ran aground in Queens in 1993 in an ill-fated attempt to unload its battered and starving human cargo. Ten people died trying...
  • Cross-border human smugglers nabbed ( smuggling Pakastanis via Canada )

    04/13/2006 3:58:16 PM PDT · by Jim_Curtis · 13 replies · 417+ views
    National Post ^ | 4/13/06
    Two parallel investigations north and south of the U.S. border have resulted in indictments against 14 men accused of smuggling people into the U.S. Standing symbolically beneath the Peace Arch monuments, law-enforcement agencies on both sides of the border said yesterday they had put an end to a sophisticated international ring that had attempted to smuggle about 50 people from South Asia through Canada to the U.S. "It takes an immense amount of discipline and co-operation," said U.S. Immigration special agent Leigh Winchell. "It takes a lot of co-operation to run two parallel investigations." RCMP Chief Supt. Bud Mercer said...
  • Four arrested for running brothels in California, Texas

    04/12/2006 9:06:46 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 46 replies · 2,579+ views
    Santa Ana - A Southern California woman was in custody in Texas Wednesday on charges of operating brothels in Dallas and the Los Angeles area using women smuggled into the country from South Korea and Mexico. Jong Ock Mao, 47, of West Covina was arrested Tuesday in Madisonville, Texas after a 40-count indictment was unsealed in Santa Ana federal court accusing her and three others of conspiracy, money laundering and violating the Travel Act, a federal law that prohibits the use of interstate facilities to conduct illegal business. Federal agents raided six businesses, including tanning salons, chiropractic offices and spas,...
  • Employment agencies and nine individuals charged with hiring illegal aliens

    04/12/2006 10:21:56 AM PDT · by Calpernia · 47 replies · 1,910+ views
    Two employment agencies and nine individuals charged with hiring and harboring illegal aliens, mail fraud and laundering $5.3 million -- ICE agents arrest suspects in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two temporary employment agencies and nine individuals affiliated with the agencies have been charged in a $5.3 million scheme involving the employment of illegal aliens, harboring of illegal aliens, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, according to a federal indictment unsealed today in the Northern District of Ohio. This morning, agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of...