Posted on 02/01/2007 12:33:05 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
A member of a Mexican Mafia street gang was sentenced Wednesday to a five-year prison term for human smuggling. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Jorge Espinoza, 41, on July 28. His arrest cames after he tried to smuggle a dozen illegal aliens hidden in the back of a tractor-trailer.
Customs and Border Protection inspectors discovered the people when Espinoza tried to pass through the checkpoint near Interstate 35 in Laredo hidden in the back of a refrigerated tractor-trailer during the secondary inspection process.
“ICE continues to turn up the pressure on violent criminals in order to dismantle their organizations and disrupt their operations,” said Jerry Robinette, acting special agent-in-charge of the San Antonio office of investigations.
“Working with our law enforcement counterparts, we are going to use every tool at our disposal to take these criminals off the streets and break the cycle of gang-related violence that is threatening the safety of our communities.”
Espinoza is one of the captains of the Mexican Mafia that operates in Laredo. His criminal history ranges from possessing drugs to escaping from prison.
The immigrants discovered inside the trailer were citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. All 12 remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of their cases.
This arrest is the latest law enforcement action under Operation Community Shield, a nationwide ICE anti-gang initiative to disrupt, dismantle and assist in criminally prosecuting violent gangs by employing the full range of law enforcement authorities available to ICE.
Operation Community Shield was launched in February 2005 targeting MS-13 gang members, and was expanded in May 2005 to target all gangs. ICE uses its immigration authority (both criminal and administrative) to target foreign-born gang members and to target gang-related narcotics smuggling, gun smuggling, money laundering and in seeking forfeiture of illegally derived assets.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Less than half the sentence that the border agents got for firing on a drug smuggler in self defense.
Hey, hey! None of that! We can't have the US government seeking forfeiture of illegally derived assets. That's just not nice!
ping
Less than half the sentence that the border agents got for firing on a drug smuggler in self defense.
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