Immigrant smuggling cell headed to prison
by Guillermo Contreras
October 20, 2010

Members of a smuggling cell that used rental vehicles to transport more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants through South Texas in just one year are headed to federal prison, wrapping up a case that found links to the Zetas drug cartel.

Earlier this month, Rosalinda De Leon was sentenced in Eagle Pass to 87 months in prison, the same sentence given to two other ringleaders, Gilberto Hernandez and Leodegardo Garcia-Duarte, according to court records and federal officials. The 18 other defendants — except for a pair that are fugitives — got sentences ranging from 30 days to 57 months, records show.

An investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Eagle Pass, Del Rio and Houston, in conjunction with the Border Patrol, connected a series of interdictions in 2008 and resulted in 500 immigrants being apprehended. The yearlong probe, Operation Day Rider, identified a pattern of smuggling between Piedras Negras, Mexico, and Houston, and found the group made $1.5 million to $2.5 million in immigrant smuggling in 2008 alone.

The rental-car method was an unusual twist, and worked this way: A member of the group would rent a quad-cab pickup or sport-utility vehicle to be used by a driver to sneak the immigrants around Border Patrol checkpoints.

The renter could deny any responsibility if authorities caught the load, said Jerry Robinette, head of investigations for ICE in San Antonio, whose territory includes South Texas.

“If a chase ensued with Border Patrol or (police) they would report the vehicles stolen,â€