Thread: Central FL Roads are Pipelines for Illegal Immigration

http://www.wftv.com/news/15269229/detail.html

Central Florida Roads Are Pipelines For Illegal Immigration

POSTED: 9:12 am EST February 11, 2008
UPDATED: 5:21 pm EST February 11, 2008


U.S. border patrol agent-in-charge Robert Gilmore spends hours watching for one of the many tell-tale signs that lead he and fellow agents to roughly 50 illegal immigrants each month travelling to or through Central Florida.

"This is a very popular destination point. Reason being, the type of work they're looking for. Construction, landscaping and work at the many hotels. It's just a popular area," said agent Gilmore.

Once the immigrants find work, they fall under the jurisdiction of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But before that, Border Patrol targets new arrivals and Gilmore's instincts are right on on a recent trip. Within minutes, he caught up with a white Suburban with a California tag on Florida's Turnpike.

Gilmore pulled over the vehicle and asked the driver if he was the owner. He wasn't, but agents believe his six passengers still paid a pretty penny for the ride from southern Mexico which began nearly a week before this stop. They found nearly $3,000 in cash, mostly one-hundred dollar bills.

The Border Patrol office is the first stop before a trip to a detention center and an appearance before an immigration judge who will decide what happens next.

One of the men in the car, Gabriel de Jose said the work is hard and the pay is poor in Chiapas, Mexico, where he is from. Agents said the pay can be four to six 6 dollars per day. De Jose paid $1,700 for the opportunity to work in Miami. Ironically, Miami the same place he'll be detained to face an immigration judge.

De Jose and his fellow passengers have no criminal records in the U.S. although the man accused of driving them does. He was arrested in Arizona for smuggling. Now, all of them join a growing number of illegal immigrants brought into custody here in Central Florida.

Unless Gabriel de Jose and the other men can convince an immigration judge they have ties here in the U.S., it's likely they'll be deported. According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are close to one million illegal immigrants living in Florida.

There were nearly 500 of them last year. That's up 38% from 2006.

Gilmore says in that time his office gained a new agent. He says that added enforcement or maybe more illegal traffic accounts for that spike.

"They'll either try again and make it or we'll catch them again," said agent Gilmore.

$6 a day....and yet they can come up with $1700...wow can they save money for the coyote!!!!!!!!!!!!!