Free Republic

EDINBURG, Tex. — For decades, the first stop for illegal immigrants making their way across the Texas border has often been a stash house or drop house, an apartment or rental home where they might spend hours or days in squalor waiting to be transported elsewhere. Often it is where they are held until their families pay the smugglers’ fees.But in recent months, stash houses have proliferated in border towns in the Rio Grande Valley and in cities farther north, like Houston, a trend that has been occurring in Texas but not in other states on the border. And local,...

Several dozen young men are basking in the warm mid-day sun. They are Afghan and Pakistani. Behind them, on a white wall, is graffiti extolling the glories of the UÇK -- ex-Kosovo Albanian guerilla fighters.Over the past two years, the Macedonian village of Lojane, which borders Serbia, has become a stop-over on the illegal migration routes to Western Europe. “It started when groups of three or four would arrive periodically. It didn’t disturb us at first,” says Selam Mehmeti, the head of the village community. “But since this summer, it’s grown to a whole other dimension: there were 500 in...

SNIPPET: "Three Pakistani men pleaded guilty Monday to terrorism-related charges of supporting the Pakistani Taliban, according to a release from the U.S. Justice Department. At a hearing before U.S. District Judge John Bates in the District of Columbia, Irfan Ul Haq, Qasim Ali, and Zahid Yousaf pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to provide material support to the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Ul Haq, Ali, and Yousaf were arrested in Miami on March 13 and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. The three men allegedly ran an alien smuggling operation out...

Los Zetas, who earned a reputation for brutality by gunning down thousands of Mexicans in the ongoing battle for drug-smuggling routes to the United States, now control much of the illicit trade of moving migrant workers toward the U.S. border, experts in the trade say. They've brought logistical know-how, using tractor-trailer trucks to carry ever larger loads of people and charging higher prices, as much as $30,000 per head for migrants from Asia and Africa who seek to get to the United States. They've also brought an unprecedented level of intimidation and violence to the trade. Los Zetas or their...

Today’s slaveryA unified effort to end human trafficking By Renée Loth January 29, 2011 IN NEWARK, 20 young women and girls from West Africa were discovered working in hair-braiding salons for 14 hours a day with no pay. Their employer ruled over the victims, some as young as 10, with beatings, sexual assaults, and voodoo curses. Closer to home, five people were indicted in Quincy for operating brothels in rented apartments using immigrant women kept in a state of debt bondage with threats of deportation. In Danvers, a 13-year old runaway girl was offered to a group of men at...

June 29, 2002, 12:07AM 28 Nabbed by Feds at Fort Worth site Some may have ties to extremist group By DEANNA BOYD Copyright 2002 Fort Worth Star-Telegram FORT WORTH -- Federal agents raided an aviation repair facility at Fort Worth Meacham Airport on Friday morning, arresting 28 workers on immigration violations. Some of them, sources said, may be affiliated with a Muslim extremist group responsible for a string of kidnappings in the southern Philippines. Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney's office for Northern Texas, said federal felony charges will be filed Monday against some of the detained mechanics,...

Suspected Terrorist Arrested In Florida Iqbal Munawar Arrested In Alleged Immigration Scheme UPDATED: 3:25 p.m. EDT September 14, 2002 MIAMI -- Iqbal Munawar, who was on the FBI's list of suspected terrorists, was jailed as he tried to fly from Miami to Tampa, Fla., Friday morning. Munawar and two other men have been charged with smuggling illegal aliens from the Middle East into the United States on airplanes through Miami International Airport and John F. Kennedy Airport. The suspects are accused of making more than $100,000 in the smuggling operation, selling more than 1,000 false visas to illegal immigrants. Miami-Dade...

At least 16 migrants, including a woman, were being held for ransom by human smugglers in Tijuana, Mexico, according to a migrant who was freed, authorities said late Wednesday. "With respect to the man, we are not releasing his name but he is between 20 and 25-years-old. We can tell you that his family paid a ransom for his liberty and it was after that he came to us and told us there were others that were being held in Tijuana," Municipal Police Officer Jose Varela told CNN by phone. It was unclear how much the family paid, but reports...

SAN FERNANDO, Mexico – Two cars exploded early Friday in a northern state where officials are investigating the killing of 72 Central and South American migrants, while a prosecutor investigating the massacre has disappeared. The prosecutor, Roberto Jaime Suarez, disappeared Wednesday in the town of San Fernando, where the bodies of the migrants were found, the Tamaulipas state attorney general's office said in a statement. A transit police officer in the town is also missing. President Felipe Calderon, speaking during a forum on security, said Suarez, a Tamaulipas state prosecutor, was involved in the initial investigation of the massacre, which...

WINDSOR, Ont. — Amherstburg police officers have nabbed five people — three children and two adults — attempting to enter Canada illegally by boat, the second time in a month they have foiled a human smuggling bid. Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Amherstburg+police+foil+human+smuggling/3417510/story.html#ixzz0x9AEG6w1

Maria was drifting off to sleep on the bedroom floor. She could hear women getting raped in the next room. Only she didn't hear screams — she heard the laughter of male guards. A kidnapping victim rescued by the Phoenix Police Department's Home Invasion and Kidnapping Enforcement unit. The women had been drugged by their rapists, who had done the same to Maria as soon as she walked into the house. They forced her to swallow a red liquid and handed her some chalky, white pills. She drank the liquid and tucked the pills on the side of her mouth,...

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Mexico condemned the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a U.S. Border Patrol agent Thursday through diplomatic correspondence and an angry phone call to the Homeland Security secretary. Some Mexican politicians called for the agent's extradition to face Mexican justice.

Note: The following text is a quote: Heads of Canadian alien smuggling organization sentenced BURLINGTON, Vt. - On May 3, Jose Manuel Galdamez-Serrano, 56, Norvin Gonzalez-Morales, 29, Ruben Damas-Hernandez, 31, and Emmanuel Antonio Galdamez, 27, of Montreal, Quebec, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Burlington following their guilty pleas to alien smuggling offenses. The defendants were extradited to the United States from Canada to face the charges contained in the indictment. Chief U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Jose Manual Galdamez-Serrano to 60 months imprisonment and three years of probation following his guilty plea to one count...

ELFRIDA, Ariz. - Sixty-seven illegal immigrants were found crammed inside a U-Haul truck near Elfrida, Ariz. about 20 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border after deputies spotted it driving erratically.

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

Note: The following text is a quote: Somalian Charged with Making False Statements on Application for Asylum Defendant is Accused of Making False Statements Concerning Participation in Terrorist Organizations United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced that in San Antonio, a federal grand jury has indicted 24-year-old Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, a citizen of Somalia, on two counts of making false statements under penalty of perjury to federal authorities concerning his association with global terrorist organizations. The indictment, returned yesterday and unsealed this afternoon, alleges that on October 28, 2008, the defendant falsely omitted on an application for asylum that from...

SAN JUAN — A 16-year-old Mexican girl was forced into household labor, deprived of food and shelter and raped six times by the man who smuggled her into this country, according to authorities. Benito Vargas, 17, is accused of raping the Jalisco native on several occasions while his mother ignored the girl’s cries for help, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said. The girl, who was smuggled into the United States on claims she would have a better life here, was also beaten on several occasions, was rarely fed and was forced to sleep on a couch outside while she...

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, December 17, 2009 Guyanese National Charged with Smuggling Indian Nationals to the United States A Guyanese national has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with her role in the smuggling or attempted smuggling of four Indian nationals to the United States. Annita Devi Gerald, aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas. Gerald was arrested by ICE special agents in Houston on Nov. 17, 2009, and has been held without...

Three Houston residents have been arrested and accused of transporting illegal immigrants after a pickup truck carrying the people plunged 40 feet from a roadway and injured them in Jim Wells County in South Texas. Patricio Rebollar Jr., 28, Herman Valdez, 29, and Nancy Martinez, 25, are charged in a criminal complaint with transporting undocumented immigrants, according to federal authorities. Of the 17 undocumented immigrants in the accident, five remain hospitalized with serious injuries and the others have been treated at hospitals and released into federal custody. Rebollar, who was allegedly driving the pickup, was hospitalized with unknown injuries.

<p>Deputies say the four Chinese citizens were inside the van along with the driver, a resident of Mexico City. By Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) _ Authorities say a traffic stop in a Phoenix suburb has led to the detention of four Chinese citizens suspected of entering the country illegally.</p>

The busiest border crossing in the country was open again Wednesday morning after closing for hours during a shootout between federal agents and vans suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants into California from Mexico. Four were injured and traffic was stopped for four hours Tuesday near San Diego after the border patrol agents fired shots at the vehicles across nine lanes of highway. The 74 people crowded into the three vans were taken into federal custody. San Diego police spokesman Lt. Kevin Rooney said Tuesday the drivers tried to storm past inspectors at the San Ysidro port of entry — which...

U.S. authorities have closed the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the border with Mexico after a gunfight there early Tuesday. San Ysidro is the nation's busiest border crossing. Roughly 40,000 vehicles cross there daily from Mexico. Three vans loaded with suspected illegal immigrants tried to speed through the crossing Tuesday afternoon, drawing gunfire from at least two U.S. agents, authorities said. Three people in the vans and a traveler in a nearby car were injured in the failed attempt to cross into San Diego from Tijuana. About 70 people inside the vehicles were taken into custody, according to authorities.

Fired ACORN employee called police A local ACORN employee filmed talking about human smuggling reported the incident to a police detective who was his cousin. Juan Carlos Vera contacted his cousin two days after the incident for advice on what to do with information he obtained regarding possible human smuggling, National City police said in a news release Monday. The detective contacted another law enforcement officer serving on a federal human smuggling task force, who responded that he needed more details. The ACORN employee explained several days later the information was wrong and he had been duped. Vera was secretly...

ACORN Prostitution Tour San Diego--More Videos Hannah Giles and James O' Keefe our hero fake pimp and hooker, took their tour from northern California to the south, San Diego on the border with Mexico. Here they met with a Juan Carlos a very creepy, ACORN worker who tried to pick up Hanna and offered to help the pair smuggle in the child prostitutes from El Salvador. You See he smuggles people over the border all the time. In probably the most uncomfortable moment in all of the videos, the Juan Carlos asks Hannah where she lives and how much does...

"I have a lot of contacts in Tijuana."

<p>PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona officer who stopped a refrigerated trailer found nearly 100 undocumented immigrants crammed inside in near-freezing temperatures.</p> <p>A tip from federal agents led the Department of Public Safety officer to make the stop to check for faulty equipment Wednesday night on Interstate 19 north of Nogales near the Mexico border.</p>

McALLEN – Three men already in federal custody have been linked to the kidnapping, torture and ransom of hundreds of Central American migrants in Reynosa, federal authorities said. Two Honduran nationals held on immigration charges in Willacy County recognized one of the suspected smugglers July 10 after he was booked into the county jail, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in their case. One of the detained immigrants told U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents that he had met Oscar Humberto Hilton Romero, 31, of Honduras, in Guatemala and then followed him to a Reynosa stash house, where he...

CORPUS CHRISTI — A man was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison Thursday for his involvement in an illegal immigrant smuggling conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of three people in Duval County. Frank Garcia, 30, of Pasadena, pleaded guilty of transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico into the U.S., according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson. On Nov. 24, Garcia delivered a van carrying eight people to smugglers outside Concepcion, according to the release. Garcia then drove a lead vehicle while the van followed. During law enforcement’s pursuit of the vehicles, the van crashed and caught...

SONOITA, Ariz. — Ten undocumented immigrants "stacked like wood" in the back of a sports utility vehicle crammed with at least 22 people were killed when the driver lost control and rolled over on a remote southern Arizona highway, authorities said Sunday.

Ten people "stacked like wood" in the back of a sports-utility vehicle were killed when the driver lost control on a remote southeastern Arizona highway, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety said Sunday.DPS Officer Joy Craig said at least 27 men and women were in the vehicle traveling on State Route 82 about four miles east of Sonoita when the vehicle rolled for an unknown reason shortly before midnight Saturday.Most of the vehicle's passengers were ejected.Authorities said all the victims are believed to be illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Equador and perhaps Mexico."There was no...

<p>SONOITA, Ariz. — Ten undocumented immigrants "stacked like wood" in the back of a sports utility vehicle crammed with at least 22 people were killed when the driver lost control and rolled over on a remote southern Arizona highway, authorities said Sunday.</p>

No civilized sane human would support slavery so how does trafficking in humans for sex continue worldwide? The practice is growing, but hundreds declared in Tulsa Friday that they will stand in opposition. They will contribute time and money to raise awareness and save victims. They will engage to stop this hidden smuggling that goes on in every one of the 50 states in America.

The owner of the Los Angeles-based Numero Uno supermarket chain was convicted today of participating in a racketeering enterprise that was involved in a host of illegal activities, including solicitation of murder, bribery of a public official, harboring illegal aliens and tax violations. George Torres, 52, an Arcadia resident who has been in custody since he was arrested after being indicted two years ago, was found guilty of 55 felony counts, including racketeering, “honest services” mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiring to harbor illegal aliens, and a host of tax charges. The jury determined that Torres solicited the February 1994...

An alleged abduction in southwest Houston earlier this week appears to be part of human smuggling operation that was thwarted when the victim jumped from his kidnappers' car on a freeway near downtown. Six men, including the victim and his relatives as well as three suspects, were arrested following a brief police chase. No injuries were reported. Federal immigration authorities said the men were in the country illegally and were involved in a human trafficking plot. However, officials declined to discuss details of the case because the investigation is ongoing. The names of the men have not been released. "It's...

Women and girls as young as 16 were smuggled into this country from Mexico and brought to Charlotte to work as prostitutes. For $25 and $30, authorities said, they performed sex acts – sometimes with 20 men a day. Jorge Flores Rojas, a 44-year- old undocumented Mexican national accused of running the sex trafficking ring, has been sentenced in Charlotte to 24 years in prison, authorities said Tuesday. He was ordered to pay $117,000 in restitution to one woman. He also must register as a sex offender. Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan said Tuesday that prostitution rings like the one...

Palermo, 3 April (AKI) SNIPPET: "Over 36,000 boat people arrived on the southern Italian coast last year - a 75 per cent increase over the number of arrivals in 2007 - according to the Italian government and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR)."

A woman was allegedly kidnapped as part of a suspected human smuggling operation in Tustin on Saturday evening, police said. The 32-year-old woman's alleged abduction is believed by police to be in response to a dispute over payment for human smuggling. Officers are not yet sure what country the alleged victim came from, but said it might be Guatemala.

A Sullivan City man accused of smuggling three Iraqis into the United States was set to appear for a detention hearing Thursday. Prosecutors allege Juan De Dios Martinez Vela, 28, sneaked the men across the Rio Grande as part of a smuggling network with links to the Middle East.

The leader of the Three Franciscos, a ring accused of transporting more than 9,000 illegal immigrants through Los Angeles and around the country, was sentenced to six years in federal prison Monday. Federal officials called the organization the most prolific of its kind ever uncovered in Los Angeles, collecting fees as high as $3,700 from relatives of immigrants who were packed into cramped vans and safe houses. "We estimated they were moving about 100 a week," said Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. The group was known as the Three...

PHOENIX -- A raid at a suspected Avondale drop house Thursday night resulted in the rescue of more than two dozen hostages, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. A SWAT team raided the house on Joblanca Street at 6:30 p.m. after receiving a call from a Tennessee resident concerned that a family member was being held captive in a home, deputies said. Inside, deputies found 30 suspected illegal immigrants, among them 25 hostages who were being held for ransom, the sheriff's office said. According to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the hostages were held from 3-24 days and had...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090224losangeles.htm February 24, 2009 Former LAX elevator mechanic sentenced to 3 years for human smuggling LOS ANGELES - An elevator mechanic formerly employed by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for smuggling foreign nationals into the United States by bypassing established security at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Roberto Amaya Canchola, 54, was sentenced yesterday as part of a plea agreement in which he admitted earning $1,800 for each illegal alien he ushered into airport elevators and escorted to taxis outside the terminal. Canchola was...

NATIONAL GANG THREAT SUMMARY Gangs pose a serious threat to public safety in many communities throughout the United States. Gang members are increasingly migrating from urban to suburban areas and are responsible for a growing per- centage of crime and violence in many communities. Much gang-related criminal activity involves drug trafficking; however, gang members are increasingly engaging in alien and weapons trafficking. Additionally, a rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships with U.S.- and foreign-based drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other criminal organizations to gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs.

It was just reported on the show KFI Los Angeles that George W. Bush has pardoned an individual named John Allen Aregood of Riviera, Texas, who was apparently convicted of conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens.

EDINBURG — Mario Olivares Cifuentes thought he understood the risks of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Tales of migrants drowning in the Rio Grande or succumbing to the oppressive South Texas sun spread frequently among those hoping to make the trek. But for Olivares, a Guatemalan migrant, the real danger emerged only after passing those natural perils. For almost a day, he and 20 of his countrymen were allegedly kidnapped, tortured, raped and held for ransom in a stash house east of Edinburg before federal agents rescued them last week. Their purported tormentors — a group of Mexican nationals believed...

McALLEN, Texas — Four illegal immigrants were found in the back of a Wal-Mart truck, and the driver and two alleged accomplices were accused of trying to smuggle them through a Border Patrol checkpoint. Authorities acting on a tip arrested driver Alejandro Hernandez and two other suspects Thursday just south of a checkpoint at Falfurrias, authorities said. The four Mexican nationals in the trailer were also taken into custody. Documents filed in federal court Monday allege that Hernandez, 50, unloaded a delivery at a Wal-Mart in McAllen, then stopped at a truck stop in nearby Edinburg where he picked up...

WASHINGTON — Florida Rep. Allen Boyd's son was arrested in Arizona Sunday and charged with human smuggling after K-9 dogs allegedly sniffed out individuals hiding in the bed of his truck. John F. Boyd attempted to drive through a Border Patrol security check in Willcox, court documents revealed, according to KVOA-TV in Phoenix. Five illegal aliens, including a 6-year-old girl, were found in the truck. The criminal complaint obtained by KVOA states, "At the primary inspection area, a Border Patrol K-9 alerted to the possible presence of illegal aliens in the bed of the truck. A primary inspection agent approached...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The son of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd is facing alien smuggling charges in Arizona. The Democratic congressman, who is seeking a seventh term this November, said Tuesday that his 30-year-old son, John Boyd, was arrested Sunday on the human trafficking charges. In a statement from his office, Congressman Boyd said his son is a grown man and must face the consequences for his actions but has the support of the family. Boyd is being challenged by Panama City Republican Mark Mulligan in the Nov. 4 general election.

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...

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 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...