Thread: Ca. couple charged ,bus service for illegal immigrants

California couple charged with operating bus service for illegal immigrants
by Bryan Denson; The Oregonian
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 4:58 PM

The government has charged a Los Angeles couple with running what amounted to a failing bus service for illegal immigrants recently smuggled into the country from Mexico.


Nabor Castaneda-Cortez, 31, and Norma Delia Lopez-Ramirez, 36, are accused of operating as "rieteros" -- a term federal agents use to describe those who earn money by transporting people who have just crossed the border illegally.

The case took form last week, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Medford learned that a Mexican national who had been smuggled into the U.S. would be turned over to his family at an Interstate 5 rest area called Valley of the Rogue.

Just after midnight on June 17, agents arrested Castaneda and Ramirez and nine undocumented aliens they were transporting in a Plymouth Dodge Caravan, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Agents interviewed Castaneda, who admitted he was living in the United States illegally and working as a rietero, according to the complaint signed by ICE Special Agent Shafqat Mirza.

"Castaneda stated that his business is so bad that he had to sell some of his other transport vans," Mirza wrote. "He also stated that he and his wife are driving these aliens because he cannot afford drivers."

The six adults and three children that Castaneda and Ramirez were transporting were headed to Oregon cities including Beaverton and Woodburn and Washington towns including Pasco and Renton, according to the complaint. All were detained and some remain in custody.

--Bryan Denson bryandenson@news.oregonian.com


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ss ... _with.html

All were detained and some remain in custody.





Some? Where are the others?

And please, don't tell us they should've reached Oregon by now.