Thread: El Paso Border Patrol agent pleads guilty to immigrant smugg

El Paso Border Patrol agent pleads guilty to immigrant smuggling
Times staff report
Article Launched: 07/09/2008 01:23:44 PM MDT


U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Miguel Huizar faces five years in federal prison after pleading guilty Wednesday morning to conspiracy to smuggle, transport and harbor undocumented immigrants and conspiracy to commit money laundering, United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced.
Appearing before United States District Judge David Briones, Huizar admitted that from January 2005 to present he conspired to smuggle over 100 undocumented immigrants into the United States from Mexico. Specifically, Huizar was paid a portion of the smuggling fees, approximately $350 per person, to facilitate the transportation of undocumented immigrants through the interior Border Patrol checkpoints in New Mexico, Sutton said in a news release

Huizar agreed to forfeit to the government a house he owned at 9072 Geranium in El Paso, used by the organization as a safe house. He also agreed to pay a monetary judgement in the amount of $500,000.

A trial date for Huizar's co-defendants - El Paso resident Rosa Isela Escajeda, 46, and Chihuahua, Mexico residents Emeterio Sigala-Favela, 37, and Luis Carlos Chacon-Rubio, 32 - has yet to be scheduled. If convicted, each faces up to ten years in federal prison.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_9829118

11.20.08
Two more in BP agent smuggling ring to be sentenced

Posted: Nov 20, 2008 03:54 PM PST


By ABC-7 I-Team Investigator Martin Bartlett

EL PASO -- Two confessed members of the Jurado Human Smuggling Ring are set to be sentenced in federal court on Friday morning, according to court documents.

Emeteria Sigala Favela and Rosa Isela Escajeda, both from Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, have already pleaded guilty in the scheme.

Former U.S. Border Patrol Jesus Miguel Huizar made his first appearance before a federal magistrate in May and later pleaded guilty. Huizar was sentenced in October to five years in prison for his role.

Previously filed documents paint the picture of a complex, well-organized and highly lucrative operation that may have helped as many as 100 undocumented immigrants cross the border.

Huizar admitted he allowed others in the ring to bring undocumented immigrants through the Border Patrol checkpoints on I-25 and New Mexico 185 near Hatch.

"What the Border Patrol agent who was arrested Tuesday is charged with doing is allowing illegal aliens through his checkpoints in New Mexico for $500 a head," Leticia Zamarripa said in July.

Zamarripa is a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the agencies involved in the investigation.

According to his indictment, Huizar owned a home at 9072 Geranium in the Lower Valley that was used to house some of the illegal aliens. The ring also allegedly used a home at 308 Ronquillo that was owned by Escajeda.

According to the court documents, back in March of this year, she "harbored undocumented aliens at her residence" which was 308 Ronquillo.

The indictments say the smuggling ring started as early as January 2005 and continued until last month.

The ring allegedly took in about $500,000 by doing that.

So in addition to human smuggling conspiracy, many in the ring also face federal money laundering charges.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Huizar faces up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted; Sigala-Favela faces up to ten years.

"We do our job and we do it with integrity," Agent Ramiro Cordero, a spokesman for the U.S Border Patrol's El Paso sector, said in May.

http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=9389289