Thread: 97 illegal immigrants found in chilled trailer

Originally Posted by Larry

"Hello senor BPS officer, these fine folks are not from Mexico and Guatemala, they are ESKIMOS. I am simply returning them to Alaska."

Good Lord!

Good one Larry.

LOL

I'm pretty sure BozO and Napalitano will 'investigate' and 'audit' the trucking company's books rather than deport ALL of these criminaliens!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009, 6:12pm MST
Trucker charged with transporting illegal immigrants- by Mike Sunnucks

A California truck driver is charged with transporting undocumented immigrants inside a refrigerated tractor trailer in southern Arizona.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers say they found 97 people inside the truck. Luis Antonio Mendoza, 26, of Fresno Calif., faces federal charges related to the alleged smuggling.

He was pulled never near Rio Rico in southern Arizona near the Mexican border.

Mendoza told police he was transporting the group to Eloy, where they were to be transferred to another vehicle, according to information from the U.S. Attorney for Arizona’s office.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also said the illegal immigrants paid between $1,000 and $3,000 to be smuggled into the US near Nogales and that Mendoza was paid $300 per person to transport them in the very cold truck.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stor ... a=from_rss

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

Thursday, July 30, 2009, 6:12pm MST
Trucker charged with transporting illegal immigrants- by Mike Sunnucks

Mendoza told police he was transporting the group to Eloy, where they were to be transferred to another vehicle, according to information from the U.S. Attorney for Arizona’s office.

Why not set a trap for those in eloy and let the truck go there EMPTY
then bust the people waiting to pick these people up.
or call the police there since obviously there had to have been an arranged meeting place and grab the next set of smugglers

35 Undocumented Aliens Picked Up Near Brawley, CA.

This involves 2 more tractor trail trucks, in CA.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-165160.html

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4413--0-0.html

Agents stunned to find 97 stuffed in icy trailer
Illegal immigrants OK but shivering at 34°; 'You have human beings treated like cargo'
By Brady McCombs and Alexis Huicochea

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.31.2009
The discovery of 97 illegal immigrants crammed into the nearly freezing refrigerated trailer of a semi ranks as one of the most dangerous smuggling attempts ever in Arizona, veteran border officials say.
None of the people found inside the trailer Wednesday night was sick or hurt, but officers said it easily could have ended in disaster. There were several unsecured pallets of mangoes in the trailer with a group that included 14 minors between the ages of 12 and 17, and two pregnant women.
"I've been in law enforcement for 18 years, and this is the first time I have experienced something of that magnitude," said Sgt. Charlie Serino of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, who discovered the 94 Mexicans and three Guatemalans. "Had we not interdicted this group, someone could have been seriously injured or killed as a result of that transportation process."
Serino was patrolling on Interstate 19 near Rio Rico Wednesday at about 9 p.m. when he heard a Border Patrol alert to be on the lookout for a commercial vehicle that was possibly involved in criminal activity. He realized the semitrailer next to him matched the description and pulled it over for a mud-flap violation.
After discovering that the driver, Luis Antonio Mendoza, 26, of Fresno, Calif., had an unrelated commercial-vehicle infraction that he hadn't taken care of, Serino arrested him. Then he walked around the truck to open the trailer.
"When I opened the door, I was very surprised at what I had discovered," Serino said. "They were very cold; they were visibly trembling."
The refrigeration unit at the front of the trailer showed the temperature inside: 34 degrees.
The pallets of mangoes left little room for people to move around. Everyone inside the trailer was responsive, and no one needed any medical attention, Serino said.
"It's one of those things when you see it, you just can't believe it," said Kevin Kelly, assistant agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office of investigations in Nogales, Ariz., who arrived at the scene on Wednesday night. "You have human beings in the back being treated like cargo."
Kelly said the incident ranks near the top of his list of most dangerous things he's seen in 21 years with the agency.
"It's up there with disregard for human life," Kelly said. "To cram 97 human beings into a 53-foot-long trailer is atrocious."
The illegal immigrants were taken to the Nogales Border Patrol station to be interviewed and set up for return to their native countries. Five of the Mexicans are being held in the U.S. as material witnesses, and the rest were to be returned to Mexico on Thursday, said Kelly.
Mendoza, the U.S. citizen driver, was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office with transporting illegal immigrants for profit and made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Tucson on Thursday, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the office. He was detained pending a preliminary hearing on Monday.
The criminal complaint says Mendoza admitted to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent that he knew there were illegal immigrants in the trailer but that he thought there were only 15 people. He said he was going to be paid $300 per person to take them to Eloy, where they would be picked up by another vehicle.
Illegal immigrants from the group chosen as material witnesses said they made arrangements in Nogales, Sonora, to pay between $1,000 and $3,000 each to be smuggled across the border to Phoenix, the criminal complaint shows.
If convicted, Mendoza faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will continue investigating to determine if anybody else besides Mendoza is responsible, Kelly said.
While Kelly declined to discuss many of the details of the case because of the ongoing investigation, he did say the group was loaded into the trailer in the United States and may have been in the refrigerated trailer for about 40 minutes.
They would have been in the refrigerated trailer for about one hour and 45 minutes longer if Mendoza had made it undetected to Eloy as planned.
"This could have been a really significant tragedy," said Virginia Kice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
Most of the Mexican illegal immigrants interviewed by Mexican Consulate officials had blurry memories of the events, having lost track of where they were and how long they'd been inside due to the dark and cold conditions inside the trailer, said Alejandro Martinez of the Department of Protection with the Mexican Consulate in Nogales, Ariz.
"What they told us is that they wanted to get back to Mexico," Martinez said.
U.S. Border Patrol agent Mario Escalante said he couldn't recall anything like the incident in his nine years with the agency. It illustrates the dangers of crossing the border illegally, he said.
"It's just risky for these people. They put themselves in the hands of the smugglers, and by doing so they are confiding in the smuggler," he said. "And all he cares about is money."
While the 97 illegal immigrants found in the refrigerated trailer emerged unscathed, hundreds of others die each year in Arizona on their journey north.
At least seven bodies have been discovered this week across Arizona's stretch of U.S.-Mexican border from New Mexico to Yuma County, and at least 131 bodies have been found in that area since Jan. 1, up from 119 at the same time last year, county medical examiners' records show.

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/303073

UPDATED: Driver of trailer carrying 97 immigrants charged
Traffic stop leads to discovery of 97 immigrants




Posted by Brian White

PHOENIX (AP) - A traffic stop for faulty equipment has led to the discovery of nearly 100 undocumented immigrants stuffed inside a refrigerated commercial trailer.

A tip from federal agents led an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer to make the stop Wednesday night on Interstate 19 north of Nogales.

During a search of the trailer, the officer discovered 97 immigrants including adults and children in freezing conditions. The trailer carrying mangoes had a temperature inside of 34-degrees.

The children ranged in age from 9 to 12.

The U.S. Border Patrol and Customs responded and took custody of the immigrants.

DPS says the smuggled immigrants are from Mexico and Guatemala and will be returned home.

The driver, 26-year-old Luis Antonio Mendoza, was taken into custody for a misdemeanor warrant. He has since been charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit.

A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office says Mendoza admitted to knowing of 15 illegal immigrants being inside his trailer. He also said that he was to be paid $300 per person for transporting them.

A conviction for Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine or both.




http://www.kold.com/global/Story.asp?s=8420128

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

This story is on the USA TODAY Online site.

You can post a comment there at this link:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... ants_N.htm

Just posted this there:

My first thought was 'They stopped this truck but how many weren't stopped?' And they want to allow Mexican trucks and truck drivers access to our entire nation!

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

My first thought was 'They stopped this truck but how many weren't stopped?' And they want to allow Mexican trucks and truck drivers access to our entire nation!

The driver was an American citizen and the people were loaded into the trailer in the U.S. so it was most likely an American truck.

(All of this info is from the articles above.)
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A California truck driver is charged with transporting undocumented immigrants inside a refrigerated tractor trailer in southern Arizona.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers say they found 97 people inside the truck. Luis Antonio Mendoza, 26, of Fresno Calif., faces federal charges related to the alleged smuggling.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also said the illegal immigrants paid between $1,000 and $3,000 to be smuggled into the US near Nogales and that Mendoza was paid $300 per person to transport them in the very cold truck.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stor ... ily92.html?
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While Kelly declined to discuss many of the details of the case because of the ongoing investigation, he did say the group was loaded into the trailer in the United States and may have been in the refrigerated trailer for about 40 minutes.

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/303073