Thread: APNewsbreak: Cell phones aid in border smuggling

APNewsbreak: Cell phones aid in border smuggling


By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
Posted: Nov 17, 2011 4:38 PM EST
Updated: Nov 17, 2011 4:58 PM EST

JACUMBA, Calif. (AP) - Eight men have been charged in an unusual sting that investigators say highlights a new tactic in which immigrant smugglers never cross the border from Mexico - and instead use cell phones from nearby mountaintops to bark out real-time instructions to their customers as they navigate each step of the desert trek into the U.S.

The defendants were part of one of the first immigrant smuggling rings dismantled on the U.S.-Mexico border that exclusively uses cell phones, employing none of the foot guides commonly employed to lead groups across the border, said Derek Benner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. The arrests took place Tuesday and Wednesday in the Los Angeles area.

As a general rule, smugglers still employ foot guides but cell phones are turning up more frequently in areas where Mexican mountaintops afford sweeping views into the United States. Scouts keep customers on well-traveled paths and away from Border Patrol agents.

U.S. authorities say they have spotted these new coyotes more often in the last year or so as cell-phone coverage expands to the country's most forgotten parts and handsets below $50 have become widely available.

"Technology is now the guide, as opposed to an individual that's going to have to try to make it back to Mexico when the Border Patrol stops them," Border Patrol Chief Mike Fisher said in an interview.

As U.S. authorities try to get a handle on how commonly phones are used and which smuggling rings embrace them, they face new challenges. They can no longer pump foot guides for valuable information, like where they walk, where they hide, how they spot Border Patrol agents and who they work for in Mexico.

It is also more difficult to prosecute smuggling charges because the guides are safely out of reach, south of the border.

The probe culminating in the federal complaint unsealed Wednesday began in Jacumba, a hardscrabble hamlet of about 500 people built around a three-block main street of abandoned businesses, a general store and an old motel. The town about 75 miles east of San Diego became a popular corridor for illegal crossings after a 1990s crackdown in border cities pushed migrants to remote areas.

Until the 2001 terror attacks, residents could easily walk across the border from Jacume, a poor Mexican town of around the same size. A fence of closely-spaced bollards erected a few years ago made crossing illegally more difficult, but migrants use ladders, even in daylight.

In April 2010, the Border Patrol began noticing drivers in rented cars taking migrants from Jacumba (pronounced hah-KOOM-bah) to the Los Angeles area. They concluded mountaintop scouts in Mexico were guiding customers to a white farmhouse on Jacumba's outskirts to wait for drivers, aided by binoculars and phones.

From barren mountaintops, scouts can see several miles and monitor every step. It is only about 300 yards from a border fence to the well-kept sprawl of barns and silos. Scouts utter commands on a walk that takes only minutes, compared to three or four days sometimes needed for migrants to reach Interstate 8 in parts of California.

"They say run, sit down, hide in that bush, avoid those rocks," said Daniel Page, ICE assistant special in charge of investigations in San Diego.

Drivers who were arrested and prosecuted led ICE and Border Patrol investigators to cousins in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Ana who were suspected of contracting with Mexican smugglers to pick up the migrants once they entered the United States. They identified them as longtime illegal immigrants from the Mexican state of Michoacan and targeted the extended family for immigration violations in Southern California.

Investigators say the cousins have employed legions of drivers - dozens, at least - to navigate California highways. Their recruiting grounds included nightclubs in Santa Ana and Long Beach.

Drivers were high school students, housewives and various down-on-their-luck Americans. The main job qualification was U.S. citizenship or legal residency, an effort to draw less scrutiny at Border Patrol highway checkpoints.

Cell phones spared smugglers the expense of paying a foot guide about $50 for each migrant they lead across, investigators said.

Migrants paid $5,000 to cross, on the high end of a typical fee for being led through California mountains. The costs are small - $100 to $300 for the American driver, $25 to $200 a day for the operator of a California holding house, plus rental cars and phones. Smuggling organizations - one based in Southern California and the other Mexico - split the rest.

Foot guides are also being replaced by phones in other remote border regions, including the Arizona desert and California's Imperial Valley, where Mexico's Mount Signal gives commanding views, Border Patrol officials say. Cell phone coyotes have also positioned themselves on U.S. soil.

Expanding phone coverage carries consequences not only for smugglers. Border Patrol agents can now communicate with each other more easily. Humanitarian groups hoping to lower the toll of migrants who die each year crossing the border have advocated forcefully for more coverage, saying it offers a lifeline to call 911 for help.

Investigators estimate the Jacumba smuggling ring was crossing about 10 people a week, a fairly small operation that reflects a steep drop in illegal crossings from Mexico. Border Patrol apprehensions plunged by more than half since 2005 to the lowest level in decades.

The smugglers based in Mexico remain elusive.

"We get lots of information from the drivers," Page said. "The people picking them up here have no connection to the south side."

http://www.nbc29.com/story/16068720/apn ... -smuggling

APNewsbreak: 8 charged with migrant smuggling

mymotherlode.com
AP News
11/17/11 01:32 pm

Eight men have been charged in an unusual sting that investigators say highlights a new tactic in immigrant smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to a federal complaint, the smuggling ring allegedly relied on cell phones to guide migrants across the border east of San Diego. Investigators say scouts stood on nearby mountaintops in Mexico and barked real-time commands as their customers navigated each step.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say it is one of the first smuggling rings to use cell phones exclusively. The ring employs none of the foot guides commonly used to lead groups across the border.

The men were arrested Tuesday and Wednesday in the Los Angeles area. They are charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.

http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/state/ ... gling.html

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6781--0-0.html

I.C.E. News Release

November 17, 2011
San Diego, CA

Feds dismantle human smuggling ring that guided aliens using cell phone technology

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Federal criminal charges have been filed against eight individuals suspected of running a Southern California-based alien smuggling organization that used cell phones to guide clients across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The defendants appeared in federal court Wednesday and Thursday to face conspiracy charges for alien smuggling, following a year-long investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Border Enforcement Security Taskforce (BEST) in San Diego. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

"This human smuggling organization is perhaps the first we've ever uncovered that relied exclusively on cell phone technology to guide their clients as they made their way illegally into the U.S. across the Southwest border," said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego. "I commend the resourcefulness and perseverance of the HSI investigators who succeeded in infiltrating and ultimately dismantling this ring. The perpetrators may have thought tapping this technology made them untouchable, but today they found out otherwise."

The arrests were made Tuesday and Wednesday in Orange County and Los Angeles by agents with ICE HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol. As part of this week's enforcement action, agents executed search warrants targeting three Orange County residences, two vehicles, and a farm in Jacumba, Calif.

Those charged in the complaint are:
Gil Reyes-Cruz, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif.;
Javier Cruz-Renteria, 30, of Santa Ana, Calif.;
Procopio Gudino, 31, of Gardena, Calif.;
Francisco Alejandro Ramirez, 26, Santa Ana, Calif.;
Lester Eckstein-Paz, 27, Santa Ana, Calif.;
Jose Jimenez-Magana, 57, Santa Ana, Calif.;
Miguel Angel Torres, Jr., 33, Santa Ana, Calif.; and
Rodrigo Roy Romero, 29, Santa Ana, Calif.

ICE HSI began investigating the suspected smuggling activity in June 2010 after receiving information about a human smuggling ring headed by a man named "Carlos." According to the criminal complaint, members of the smuggling ring conspired with each other and with another criminal organization in Jacume, Mexico, to arrange for the aliens to be smuggled across the international border.

The ring charged aliens $4,000 to $5,000 each, which included transportation, mostly in rental cars, to their sponsors in Orange County. The complaint further alleges agents identified more than 30 specific alien smuggling events linked to the "Carlos" ring during the course of the investigation. Most of those events included multiple aliens.

According to details described in the complaint, the Mexico-based ring either provided the aliens with a cell phone or forced them to use their own cell phone before transporting them to the border. The aliens then received instructions remotely by cell phone from the ring's members who were watching from a mountaintop. Once the aliens crossed the international border, they were guided to pick-up locations, either a farm in Jacumba or along the highway near the border.

The investigation was led by the San Diego BEST, which includes ICE HSI, CBP Border Patrol with assistance provided by the DHS Office of Inspector General and CBP Field Office.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1111/1 ... ndiego.htm

Coyotes use Cell phones to guide illegal's across the Border


Posted: Nov 30, 2011 6:35 PM PST

Story by Felicia Martinez, Weekend Anchor/Reporter

El Centro, CA Nov. 30 - With technology evolving, the use of cell phones has become a clever way for migrant traffickers or coyotes to guide illegal immigrants across the U.S. Mexico border.

Rick Sandoval the Assistant Special Agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Centro says, "When talking about alien smuggling it's always a cat and mouse game and every body is all into technology now. So, one of the things that we found is the use of GPS and cell phones."

By using GPS technology on a smart phone traffickers are able to use elevated locations like these mountains to guide illegal's across the border. Special Agent Sandoval says, "By giving the smuggler a cell phone he can direct and bring in the aliens from Mexico into the U.S. an when apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol or ourselves then we've got the illegal aliens but don't have a smuggler because the smugglers on the phone and he's in Mexico.

Sandoval says despite the challenges they face with no coyote present, the smugglers aren't beating them at the cat and mouse game. He says, "It's pretty ingenious but obviously if we are catching illegal aliens we are arresting the illegal aliens then their losing money."

With the help of one phone application called the Transborder Immigrant Tool created by a University of California San Diego professor immigrants can now be directed to safe routes where water clothing an blankets are found.

Agent Sandoval says they don't want anyone to die but assisting in illegal acts is against the law and those using technology to assist aliens will face consequences. He tells News 13 If the law says they can't come in then were going to go discourage them or apprehend them and if we find anybody that's out there assisting we will process as the law dictates to us."

Homeland Security Investigations says as the new method of crossing the border evolves they expect many more arrests will be made utilizing the new technology.

www.kswt.com