http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 738578.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 29, 2006


Americans joining in human smuggling ring
Money lures drivers into hiding people across U.S. border
RICHARD MAROSI
Los Angeles Times

TIJUANA, Mexico - The Mexican gang of human smugglers, hiding behind the fence of a drab town house, prepare the car for the run across the border.

Two men wipe the windshield and check the brake lights while three migrants wait inside the house.

Finally, the driver arrives, an American who puffs nervously on a cigarette and calls himself Trent. Accompanying Trent is Felix, the smuggling boss.

"Venganse!" - "Let's get going!" - a gang member yells.

The migrants get in the trunk, twisting to fit inside. The one woman hesitates. She crosses herself and steps in.

"It won't be long, 20 minutes," the gang member promises, as he shuts the trunk lid. "Don't move."

Within minutes, Trent drives the car into a sea of traffic inching toward the row of U.S. inspection booths at the border.

Smuggling operations like this one - Mexican rings teeming with American drivers - occur daily at the two main vehicle gateways into California, a phenomenon that frustrates U.S. authorities.

In the last fiscal year, American drivers were caught 4,078 times on suspicion of smuggling migrants through the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry into San Diego. The figure has hovered around 4,000 since the number of car smuggling cases spiked about six years go.

U.S. agents can inspect only a fraction of the estimated 64,000 vehicles that cross the border daily. Even if drivers are caught, they are usually released. Only 279 drivers in 2005 faced smuggling charges.

Feds express sympathy

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, in a recent visit to San Ysidro, said he sympathized with federal prosecutors.

"There's a lot of crime out there," he said. "There just aren't enough prosecutors and judges to prosecute everything."

Chertoff promised more alien-smuggling prosecutions in the future. Port authorities announced Jan. 19 that drivers caught smuggling will be fined $5,000 for the first offense and $10,000 for the second.

The American drivers come from all walks of life - homeless veterans, single mothers, senior citizens and college students. Some drivers are drug addicts or gamblers down on their luck.

Felix says he employs so many American drivers like Trent that he rents them to other smuggling organizations. Felix has a code word for U.S. drivers: "monos" - monkeys.

"Siempre llegan los monos," - "The monkeys always come to me," Felix says with a glint in his eye.

Smuggler gives perks

Felix, like many smugglers, provides drivers with free rooms at motels here, meals and drugs included. A driver doing three weekly runs can earn more than $100,000 per year, Trent said.

There's nothing like the euphoric rush, Trent says, when he clears customs, a sense of relief mixed with satisfaction. After migrants emerge from the car, some shake his hand and thank him.

In between runs, Trent dreams of an early retirement and spends his earnings on a "weakness for Latina babes," typically prostitutes. "What it boils down to: It's such an easy life, that it lures you in," he says.

The frontier here - a 14-mile stretch blocked by double-fencing, stadium lighting, and hundreds of agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection - is among the United States' most heavily fortified.

With crossings between the ports of entry so difficult, Tijuana has become the staging ground for car-smuggling trips on the southwest border.

The number of illegal migrants discovered inside vehicles at the San Ysidro gateway has quadrupled since 2000, from 10,600 to 40,033 in 2005.

Smuggling bosses, like Felix, are typically Mexican and charge migrants as much as $2,500. They prefer teaming up with Americans to get their clients across the border.

Migrants are hidden in hollowed-out dashboards, radiators, and "coffin compartments" welded to the undercarriages of vehicles. Inspectors have found migrants in pinatas, rolled-up carpets and gasoline tanks. Some don't even hide, hoping to slip by as passengers.

Federal authorities focus on prosecuting cases in which drivers endanger the migrants' lives. According to court records, for example, Norma Martinez-Warnett was convicted in 2004 after trying to smuggle three children in a Honda Acura in 120-degree heat. A boy was hidden inside a special compartment in the back seat and agents discovered him after hearing his screams.

At Felix's hillside home, Trent arrives grizzled and sleepy-eyed after a late night in the red-light district. Felix works the phones while watching a Mexican soccer match on TV.

Hovering around are three heavily tattooed convicted felons. The men were deported from the U.S. and work for Felix recruiting and shuttling drivers.

During a lunch of carnitas cooked by Felix's mother, Trent and Felix discuss the tricks of the trade, the morality of human smuggling and their partnership.

Felix and Trent met a few years ago, after Trent showed up in Tijuana with 12 cents in his pocket. He had lived in a nice home in a Southern California suburb when his marriage hit the rocks. His wife divorced him, took his four children and left him financially ruined.

In Tijuana's red-light district, one of Felix's recruiters made an irresistible offer: $500 per migrant.

Trent proved to be a reliable driver, Felix says, unlike many he has employed over the years. Would-be drivers are often drug addicts who must be "cured," Felix says, before being given jobs.

Felix's remedy? He gives addicts one last fix before putting them through "terapia intensive" - "intensive therapy": A cold-turkey detoxification regimen consisting of a shave, haircut and lots of cold showers, Felix said.

Trent, Felix says, is not a drug addict, and thanks to his dignified bearing and gutsy attitude has become one of his best drivers.