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27 charged in migrant smuggling ring
By BARBARA FERRY | The New Mexican
September 13, 2006

Immigrants held at safe houses in Santa Fe, Albuquerque before moving on

Twenty-seven people have been indicted in an immigrant smuggling operation that reached from South America to Santa Fe and points beyond, according to the U.S. government and a person with knowledge of the case.

A federal indictment in U.S. District Court, which was unsealed after a number of the defendants were arrested last week, charges Ofelia Marquez-Chavez and Luis Carlos Fierro and 25 other people of being involved in a network that moved migrants across the Mexican border and into temporary safe houses in New Mexico and other locations before sending them on to cities across the United States.

"This is one of the largest organizations we've had the pleasure of indicting in our region," said J. Brandy Gardes, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas in El Paso who is representing the government in the case. Marquez-Chavez and Fierro were network ring leaders, Gardes said.

Gardes did not know how many of the indicted defendants had been arrested, and a call to an Immigration Customs and Enforcement official in El Paso was not returned.

The charges against the defendants range from immigrant smuggling, transporting aliens, harboring aliens and money laundering.

The indictment says the smuggling network had been in business since 2002. Its members included guides

who crossed people over the border near Ciudad Juárez, drivers who transported migrants along New Mexico highways, scouts who reported on the whereabouts of Border Patrol agents and who informed drivers when immigration checkpoints were closed, and safe house operators who fed and sheltered migrants.

The indictment also says smugglers offered "bribes and gratuities" to Border Patrol agents stationed at the checkpoints.

The person with knowledge of the network said money for bribes was sometimes included in the overall price of transporting a truckload or carload of immigrants.

According to the person with knowledge of the alleged network, the migrants came from Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, and paid anywhere from $2,500 to $15,000 to be smuggled from their home countries.

On some occasions, migrants were packed into a tractor-trailer and driven from Southern New Mexico to Albuquerque or Santa Fe, the person with knowledge of the alleged network said.

On one occasion, Marquez-Chavez was told by an unindicted co-conspirator that three migrants would be transported in a tractor-trailer "co-mingled in a shipment of tires," the indictment says.

In other instances, the migrants were hidden among horses in a horse trailer or packed into sport-utility vehicles and driven to Albuquerque or Santa Fe, according to the person with knowledge of the case.

The migrants who arrived in Santa Fe were dropped off at a motel on Cerrillos Road, according to the person with knowledge of the alleged network. Safe-house operators knocked on motel room doors and gave a pre-arranged secret code, which let migrants know they had made the right connection, that person said. The migrants were then driven to safe houses in the area, according to that person.

The migrants stayed in safe houses until their family members wired money for them to travel further into the interior of the country, according to the person with knowledge of the case. When the money arrived, the migrants were sent on their way to family members in cities including New York, Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver, the person said.

Undercover immigration agents were involved in the investigation, and smugglers' cell phones were tapped, according to the evidence presented in the indictment.

In one telephone conversation with an unindicted co-conspirator, defendant Fierro discussed "whether the river was too high to cross pregnant ladies or whether they might drown," according to the indictment.

According to the person with knowledge in the case, small children traveling with their mothers and teenagers traveling alone were among those transported.

Contact Barbara Ferry at 995-3817 or bferry@sfnewmexican.com.


Comments

By Mike Valdez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:40 am)
Reyna, how do you figure $2,500 - $15,000 ? Yes Reyna I said free.

By Reyna Trujillo (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:38 am)
I do still wonder why they don't just go through the process of legalization. Then they get to give back to the system that they are benefitting from and they don't have to worry about deportation. That would make a lot more sense than always having to look over your shoulder.

By Reyna Trujillo (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:34 am)
Mike - If they're shelling out $2,500 - $15,000 then they're really not having their babies "for free" are they?

By Mike Valdez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:22 am)
Oh and Karen it was babies for free not free babies there is a difference. If you don't understand I will explain it a different way. They come here to have their babies in a hospital and don't have to pay for the services they receive like the rest of us do.

By Judy Yelsky (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:17 am)
and Robert, those little tiny babies will have all the same rights and privileges you do! How fabulous!

By Mike Valdez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:07 am)
Reyna, no they come to suck our system dry.

By Karen Thomas (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:06 am)
Oo, free babies that can be President one day, even better!


By Robert Windsor (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:03 am)
Plus their babies are then automatically American citizens!

By Reyna Trujillo (Submitted: 09/13/2006 11:02 am)
OK then Mike. And do you suppose that the men and children also come to the US to have their babies for free too?


By Karen Thomas (Submitted: 09/13/2006 10:54 am)
Free babies, now there's an idea, why didn't I think of that?

By Mike Valdez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 10:39 am)
And these pregnant women are probably leaving to make a better life for their child.

These pregnant women come to the US to have their babies for free.


By Geraldine Chavez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 10:36 am)
For once I agree with Rita. Regardless of how much the border patrol is paid they are paid to do a job if they are not doing that job they should not be getting paid for it. There job is to keep people from crossing the boarder illegally and if they are taking bribes to turn the other way they should be indited along with the rest of the smugglers. They are making the smugglers jobs easier.

By Reyna Trujillo (Submitted: 09/13/2006 10:33 am)
Oops. Please excuse my spelling errors.


By Reyna Trujillo (Submitted: 09/13/2006 10:18 am)
Things must be really terrible in these other countries if immigrants are willing to go through such lengths to get here. And these pregnant women are probably leaving to make a better life for their child. It rally saddens me. However, I wonder why they don't go through the process to become legal citizens, naturalization or whatever. If they are so desperate to get her, then why don't they do what it takes to stay here legally? Wouldn't that ensure that they wouldn't get shipped back to whatever desolate place they came from?


By Pat DeLay (Submitted: 09/13/2006 9:46 am)
Pregnant women and children. How very sad that they need to take such risks to seek a better life.

By Chew Baca (Submitted: 09/13/2006 9:39 am)
I never said it wasn't Rita. I am all for staying within the law and not breaking it, however there are certain people that i believe should be paid more so they will be lawful. Police, teachers and yes, bartenders fall in that category for me.

By marco Ortiz (Submitted: 09/13/2006 9:12 am)
On one occasion, Marquez-Chavez was told by an unindicted co-conspirator that three migrants would be transported in a tractor-trailer "co-mingled in a shipment of tires," the indictment says.

The above might explain a story I was told at a get together at a friends house. This guy delivered some pizzas to California Tires (by Ashbaugh Park) pretty late one night, around 11:30-Midnight. The garage was full of people waiting. A small moving van drove up and dropped off quite a few people carrying luggage. I don't think it was the shuttle from Mesa Air. Now before any of you ask questions, or comment why he (keep your name calling to yourselves) didn't do anything about it, first of all he was working as the only driver that late, had lot's more deliveries pending, and really, what does our government care about illegal immigration was his feeling.

Regarding the correlation between stories, there might not be one except that maybe the one in the story may have only been a small shipment of illegals.


By Brenda Velazquez (Submitted: 09/13/2006 8:59 am)
I fond it crazy that we are inditing these people for smuggling migrants into the country but once the migrants are here we will give them driver's licenses if they have an I.D. from Mexico called a matricula. Isnt this sending a mixed message? You cant come intot he country and according to the Federal Government you are not allowed to work here but you can get a license to drive here which gives you some ind of de facto legal status if you are stopped by a police officer. The police dont even ask for green cards in this state as long as you have a license.

Like this is a safe base in a game of hide and seek.



By Rita Serrano (Submitted: 09/13/2006 8:13 am)
Randy, I think you're right. The mi-nute men are probably on the take from drug smugglers as well.

By janey apodaca (Submitted: 09/13/2006 8:11 am)
Should be no surprise that (some) border patrol agents are in on this. I would be willing to bet that for every bust made at this level, there are at least 50 more rings out there, with just as much, or even more "federal" complicity. Rita is right, it's not how much they are paid, its the fact that they are criminals . And giving honest border patrol agents a bad name. Whenever I had a job where I wasn't making enough money, I got a different job, I didn't accept bribes or start running drugs.



By Phil Maestas (Submitted: 09/13/2006 8:10 am)
Awesome work! Let's bring in ICE and start rounding up all the illegals in Santa Fe and send them back to where they came from!

By randy echter (Submitted: 09/13/2006 8:03 am)
Rita,I just googled border patrol corruption and lots of articles came up.Border patrol has a long history of fattening their wallets from payoffs along the border zone.......maybe that's really why minutemen want to be there,to get a piece of the multi-billion dollar pie.

By Rita Serrano (Submitted: 09/13/2006 7:56 am)
Chew, they are not underpaid. They make more than most of the workers in this area. You can rationalize it all you want but accepting bribes is still a felony.

By Chew Baca (Submitted: 09/13/2006 7:46 am)
Greedy, underpaid goverment agents Rita.

By Rita Serrano (Submitted: 09/13/2006 7:45 am)
"...smugglers offered "bribes and gratuities" to Border Patrol agents stationed at the checkpoints."

They wouldn't have been successfull if not for the greedy government agents. Where are the arrests and indictments of the border patrol agents involved?



By Ed Campbell (Submitted: 09/13/2006 7:10 am)
"Safe" house is an understatement. County/city officials accept that 15% of our population is here illegally.

By m merritt (Submitted: 09/13/2006 6:32 am)
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Nice to know that Santa Fe the "City Different", is also the "City of (illegal) Immigrant Smuggling".