Thread: Arizona Police Charge 14 Travel Agency Workers

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,262 ... mmigration

PHOENIX — Fourteen travel agency owners or employees were indicted on human smuggling and other charges, accused of selling airline tickets they thought would be used by illegal immigrants, officials said.

Authorities said a records analysis showed six travel agencies sold tickets to an estimated 6,800 illegal immigrants in the United States since mid-2005. But Thursday's charges were connected only to the sale of tickets to undercover officers.

The travel agency employees were working independently of one another when they sold the tickets, said Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The undercover officers made it clear they were arranging travel for illegal immigrants and paid cash for dozens of one-way tickets across the nation, authorities said. The travel agencies offered advice on being discreet at airports, they said.

"They were so blatant about it because they hadn't been touched," Phoenix police Lt. Vince Piano said. "They would say, 'OK, you need to dress them like this. You need to walk them in through this. Does he have an ID?"'

The travel agency workers were charged under state human smuggling laws because they were facilitating the human trafficking, authorities said. Some faced charges of money laundering, conspiracy, racketeering and participating in fraudulent schemes.

All 14 have been arrested, Graves said. It was unclear Thursday evening whether any remained in custody.

"I am speechless," said 38-year-old Carmen Cortez of Phoenix, who is charged with human smuggling and illegally conducting an enterprise. "That's all I have to say."

Phoenix, 180 miles (289.7 kilometers) from the Mexican border, serves as a hub for transporting illegal immigrants across the country. Smugglers take immigrants to "stash houses" in Phoenix and make their travel arrangements.

If immigrants are to be flown to their destinations, smugglers buy tickets and, in many cases, drive them to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas because of tight security at the Phoenix airport, investigators said.

The tip that led to the investigation came from a money laundering case that tracked the wire transfers of suspected immigrant smuggling proceeds, state Attorney General Terry Goddard said. The tip led police to a stash house where they found 30 illegal immigrants, plane tickets and itineraries.

Investigators found the names of travel agencies in the stash house, Goddard said.

The indictments mark another example of authorities trying to chip away at businesses that help smugglers transport their customers.

More than two years ago, nearly two dozen used-car-lot workers were indicted on charges of faking documents and committing other crimes to help sell vehicles to smugglers, known as "coyotes." Authorities said the vehicles were used to ferry drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico.

I'm sick of all the dishomest and immoral people that are illegal aliens and those that assist them. So much crime and lies.

Dixie

"If immigrants are to be flown to their destinations, smugglers buy tickets and, in many cases, drive them to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas because of tight security at the Phoenix airport, investigators said."

What kind of ID is accepted at McCarron thats different then Skyport?

Time to put more ICE agents at all airports. Have you ever seen one at an airport?

Don't just jail the employees and managers, put them to work building the fence, fine them to reimburse the american people for medical bills, etc that the illegals have not paid. We need to get hard on anyone who supports or aids illegals in any way. this includes charities, churches, politicans, etc.

I used to work for Southwest Airlines in their customer service department for over four years (from 2001 to 2005), and before SWA went to electronic free Rapid Rewards tickets, there was a HUGE problem with counterfeit Rapid Rewards tickets at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). And they were almost 98% of the time going to transport illegal aliens from LAX to other parts of the country.

They also had to crack down on the buying and selling of awards tickets, as not only was SWA losing loads of money due to this practice, but counterfeiters in Mexico were taking legitimate Rapid Rewards tickets and manufacturing them. They'd keep the member's address and Rapid Reward number on the ticket, but change the name and sometimes the expiration dates of the ticket to whoever was going to fly.

I saw a few of these counterfeit tickets myself, and some of them were obvious fakes, but a few were so good that the only way someone could tell the difference between the fake and the original were a couple of misspellings on the tickets.

The ticket agents at LAX had pages of Rapid Rewards numbers to look out for when someone would turn in a RR ticket, as all tickets with those numbers on the "list" were fakes. The illegal immigrants were told to check in separately to reduce suspicion and to dress a certain way. There would usually be a group of them travelling at one time, which is why they were told to split up (several illegals checking in at different times rather than 10 all at once with free tickets was less suspicious).

I would get calls every once in awhile from an agent at the LAX ticket counter wanting me to check if the award ticket was valid, and it never was. So they were denied boarding and asked to pay cash for the ticket if they wanted to fly. I never heard if they did pay or just walked away. (We could not arrest them, we could only deny them boarding the flight. Sometimes we would catch the error in mid-flight, and take the passenger off the plane at a stop mid-way through the flight).

At some point ICE began running stings at the ticket counters (not just for Southwest Airlines) to catch the illegals. (So, yes, ICE has been stationed at airports in the past).

Also, I know stolen credit cards were sometimes used to buy plane tickets for illegal immigrants. Most of the time, they would fly within an hour or two of booking the ticket, so there was no way to catch them fast enough.

So anyone who says that illegal immigrants are "just here for work" is a bunch of balloney, as they help support a HUGE number of criminal organizations: from coyotes, to these "travel agents" that help them get to a different part of the country, to the counterfeiters who would get them fake tickets. You stop the illegals from coming in the country, and you shut down the organizations that cater to them!!

So at least by Southwest going ticketless a few years ago, the illegal immigrants couldn't fly for free anymore!!! (I guess they stepped up the fraudulant c.c. use after that, who knows? They had to do something to replace the former method.)

TexasGal