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03-04-2007, 12:57 AM #1
6 Charged/Human Smuggling 67 Illegal Immigrants
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... .htmlMarch 3, 2007, 10:03AM
6 charged in human smuggling case
Federal agents found 67 people at 'stash house' for illegal immigrants
By SUSAN CARROLL and DALE LEZON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Complete coverage of immigration issues Federal officials have charged six men with harboring scores of illegal immigrants who were found packed into a house in a quiet southeast Houston neighborhood, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Friday.
The one-story residence was one of many "stash houses" that smugglers use in Houston for holding illegal immigrants until they can be moved elsewhere or released after relatives pay a fee, investigators said.
Charged are Felipe Muniz-DeLaMora, Jose Garcia-Garcia, Luis Alberto Lara-Gutierrez, David Palomera-Romero, Juan Carlos Perales-Solis and Nelson Sergio Aguinaga-Aleman.
No other information about them had been released late Friday. They are scheduled to appear on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy.
14 children held
Federal officials said 67 people were found in a one-story house in the 7000 block of Schley about 12:30 p.m. Thursday after a man flagged down a Houston police officer and pleaded for help.
The man said his relative and other people were being held in the home and that those holding them were demanding thousands of dollars for the person's release, Houston police spokesman John Cannon said.
The officer alerted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE agents took the occupants into custody, including a 9-year-old and 13 other juveniles, and will begin deportation procedures, agency spokeswoman Luisa Deason said. Some may be detained as witnesses in court proceedings for the six suspects, she said.
The immigrants include 26 from Honduras, 24 from El Salvador, 13 from Mexico and two each from Brazil and Guatemala, authorities said.
Federal officials also are investigating a van service next door to the house, Deason added, to determine whether the vans were used in the smuggling operation.
Home subject of rumors
Deason said stash houses, where smugglers collect illegal immigrants before shuttling them to other parts of the city or country, are not uncommon in Houston.
ICE has no statistics on the number of stash houses discovered here, she said, but the city is widely regarded in law enforcement circles to be a major hub for human smuggling.
On Friday afternoon, neighbors in the quiet neighborhood off Interstate 45 near Griggs said rumors had circulated for years about what happened in and around the salmon-colored house.
Luis Flores said the comings and goings at the house had been part of local gossip in the past three years, since his family opened Taqueria Monterrey directly behind the home.
"We'd heard rumors for years," Flores said. "But it just didn't really look suspicious. You couldn't tell."
Mireya Gamez, who lives across the street, said she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and was shocked to hear of the arrests.
susan.carroll@chron.com
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03-04-2007, 01:03 AM #2Mireya Gamez, who lives across the street, said she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and was shocked to hear of the arrests.
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