Thread: FL: Employees of illegal immigrant transport service facing

Employees of illegal immigrant transport service facing charges after van stopped in Fort Pierce
By Derek Simmonsen


Updated 04:40 p.m., March 6, 2008

FORT PIERCE — Two people who work for a van service that transports illegal immigrants across the country are facing federal charges after being arrested early Wednesday, according to court records released Thursday.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent received a tip around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday that a van was traveling south on Interstate 95 that might be carrying about 15 illegal immigrants. The agent stopped near the Okeechobee Road exit on I-95 and saw the van pass by around 1:30 a.m., according to a complaint affidavit filed in the case.

After stopping the van on Okeechobee Road, the agent saw what looked to be an “excessive amountâ€

[quote]After stopping the van on Okeechobee Road, the agent saw what looked to be an [b]“excessive amountâ€

Two plead guilty in Fort Pierce to smuggling illegal immigrants
By SARAH PROHASKA

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, May 12, 2008

FORT PIERCE — Two illegal workers, who admitted to accepting money for smuggling other illegal immigrants from Houston to Florida, pleaded guilty this morning to two federal charges.

Jimmy Efrain Morales-Santos, 25, and Hermenegilda Garcia-Hernandez, 37, could face up to 12 years in prison on charges of transporting an illegal immigrant within the United States and illegal re-entry of a deported immigrant. They are scheduled to be sentenced on July 21.

Both have previously been deported and acknowledged entering the United States a second time illegally. They said little during a hearing this morning at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, but they agreed with the federal prosecutors' account of events leading to their arrests.

They were arrested March 5 after U.S. Customs Agent Raul Delgado Jr. received a tip that, at about 12:40 a.m., more than 15 people were loaded into a white van with tinted windows and Texas plates at a rest area on Interstate 95. About an hour later, Delgado spotted the van, which exited onto Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce and drove east.

He stopped the van and found 19 people inside who were "sitting on the van seats and in between the seats," according to court documents. Of the passengers, seven claimed to be from Mexico, seven claimed to be from Honduras and four claimed to be from Guatemala.

They all admitted they were in the United States illegally, according to an arrest report.

"Morales indicated he assumed the people he was transporting were illegal aliens," Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Lineberger said.

Morales-Santos and Garcia-Hernandez told authorities they were hired in Houston a month earlier by a woman named "Carla," who offered them $500 to $650 per trip to drive undocumented immigrants from Texas to other states to meet relatives willing to pay a smuggling fee of roughly $1,000 per person.

A manifest inside the van contained the names of the van's occupants, along with family phone numbers, drop-off locations and outstanding fees to be collected. Morales-Santos told officials he had made three trips, and Garcia-Hernandez said this was her second trip.

Morales-Santos was the driver of the van, while Garcia-Hernandez collected the money, according to reports. Most of the passengers said they entered the country near McAllen, Texas, about a week earlier and were taken to Houston.

www.palmbeachpost.com

Two illegal immigrants sentenced for smuggling
Thursday, July 24, 2008

FORT PIERCE — A federal court judge has sentenced two illegal immigrants caught in March smuggling additional illegal immigrants through the country in an overloaded van.

U.S. District Judge Donald Graham on Monday sentenced Mexico national Hermenegilda Garcia-Hernandez to 15 months in prison and Honduran national Jimmy Efrain Morales-Santos to 14 months in prison, according to U.S. Department of Justice records. Both defendants will also serve three years of supervised release.

Garcia-Hernandez and Morales-Santos pleaded guilty in May to transporting illegal aliens and illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien, according to the Justice Department.

The defendants were arrested in Fort Pierce in March after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent learned their van was traveling south on Interstate 95 with about 20 people inside, according to a complaint affidavit.

Investigators said there was a manifest with the names of the immigrant passengers, along with family phone numbers, drop-off locations and outstanding money to be collected. Most of the immigrants said they came into the country through McAllen, Texas, a week earlier before traveling to Houston.

www.tcpalm.com

Keep ICE's number and the BORDER Patrol reporting numbers handy and on your cell phones...if you see "suspected illegal aliens" being transported like this ....call.

I don't get the 3 years supervised release. Won't they be deported?