http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... d1-10.html

'Big dogs' of smuggling are protected

May. 10, 2006 12:00 AM

In the world of biology, individual coyotes are pretty much the same.

In the world of smugglers, that's not true.

The clever and adaptable coyotes run organizations that have evolved to make big bucks off this country's schizophrenic immigration policy.

Below them are the little dogs.

Some of them are vicious criminals.

Others are pitiable. Consider:


• Elizabeth Cuevas-Gonzalez, 31, drove a truck loaded with migrants illegally across the border from Mexico because she was the only one in the group who knew how to drive. She hadn't taken money to do it. She was coming to the United States to work and send money to her children and didn't know driving the truck could land her in prison. She got 10 months.


• Humberto Vidrio-Carranza is a 26-year-old with a fifth-grade education. He said he agreed to drive a truck to Tucson for $2,000 because it would have gone a long way toward paying the $4,000 bill for his father's recent operation. He has a wife, three children and supports his parents. He also said he didn't know that driving the truck could land him in prison. He got 13 months.

After they serve their sentences, the two will be deported. With that on their records, they were warned by U.S. District Judge David Bury in Tucson, they could be sentenced for up to 20 years for re-entering the United States illegally for any reason.

High-tech sensors at the border alerted the Border Patrol and led to the arrest of these two not-so-wily coyotes before they ever hit the highway.

The public wasn't so lucky in the case of José Luis Zepeda-Cruz, 25, and Jimir Valle Martinez, 22. They were transporting 17 undocumented immigrants in a Ford F-350 truck when Martinez crashed into a row of vehicles near Fort Huachuca's East Gate following pursuit by law enforcement.

Three undocumented immigrants and two elderly Arizonans from Huachuca City were killed in the Oct. 16, 2004, crash; 23 people were injured.

The pair have been convicted and could get life in prison when sentenced next month.

Bolivar Cerbando Morales-Galvez, 35, was sentenced last month to five years in prison for alien smuggling that resulted in the death of an 18-year-old girl last July. Morales-Galvez refused to use his cellphone to call for help when the teen fell behind in the scorching heat. Instead, he abandoned her and several migrants who stayed to help her. She was dead when the Border Patrol found the group.

These coyotes were guides and drivers, the lowest members of a smuggling team.

U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton says smuggling operations are set up in cellular fashion to insulate the big dogs. Just as in drug cartels, the little guys are only told enough to complete their part of the job.

Saul Huerta, attorney for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Tucson who represents Zepeda-Cruz, says the smuggler sometimes offers one person in a group a discount in exchange for driving. That way, it's no big deal to the organization if the person gets caught because "the person driving isn't even one of your lackeys," Huerta says.

Stash-house operators have a bit more status in the organization. They hold migrants until somebody wires the money to pay for their trip.

Julieta Franco-Beltran, 47, awaits sentencing for running a stash house in Glendale where 32 undocumented immigrants were being held. Her plea agreement stipulates five years. Two assault rifles, a .38 handgun and almost $40,000 were seized during the arrest. A witness at trial called her "the lady in charge."

In the violent system of smuggling that has evolved to get illegal workers to waiting jobs, migrants are a valuable commodity.

A 17-count indictment against Pablo Rodriguez, 20, Siad Contreras-Corral, 22, Felipe Torres-Beltran, 26, and Javier Cota-Palafox, 22, all of Mexico, charges they approached and kidnapped a group of migrants who'd been walking across the desert for two days, forcing them at gunpoint into several vehicles.

The plan, according to the indictment, was to take the migrants to Phoenix and hold them for ransom. The coyote kidnappers were arrested Jan. 25 on Interstate 10 near Picacho with two assault rifles, a 9mm handgun, a .45-caliber pistol and kidnapped migrants in their vehicles.

If convicted, they deserve long sentences.

But if they are convicted, the smuggling, kidnapping and ransoming will continue without a hiccup.

That's because smuggling operations are set up to protect the biggest dogs.

"The more significant players are in Mexico, and it is very difficult to reach them," Charlton notes.