Thread: Ex-Border Patrol pair charged with smuggling people into U.S

Ex-Border Patrol pair charged with smuggling people into U.S.
By Elliot Spagat
Updated: 03/13/2009 10:07:17 PM PDT


SAN DIEGO - Two former Border Patrol agents made initial court appearances Friday on charges they smuggled Brazilians into the United States.

A federal magistrate judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the brothers - Raul Villarreal, 39, and Fidel Villarreal, 41 - and two other defendants also extradited from Mexico on Thursday.

Uniformed Border Patrol agents occupied about half the courtroom's seats in a show of disapproval for their former colleagues. Raul Villarreal had been an agency spokesman, often granting interviews to Spanish-language media.

"They tarnished our uniform, so we want to see them prosecuted," agent Damon Foreman said after watching the arraignment from a second-row seat.

The brothers were on the run for more than two years until Mexican authorities arrested them in October at a gated apartment complex near the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, according to U.S. authorities.

The brothers stood stone- faced as a clerk read charges including bribery of a public official, conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens for financial gain and witness tampering.

Brazilians said in court documents that they paid $12,000 each to cross the border illegally in 2005.

A 38-year-old Brazilian said he flew to Mexico, crossed the border in San Diego with two other Brazilians and seven Mexicans, and was picked up by an "American border official." He changed vehicles twice before
reaching Los Angeles and later flew to Massachusetts.

A 24-year-old Brazilian who reached Florida said a Mexican police officer in Tijuana dropped her and about nine others off with a guide who took them on foot across the border to a U.S. "immigration police" officer. She arranged the trip through a travel agency worker in Brazil.

A 22-year old Brazilian who went to New York said a Border Patrol agent picked her and others up in California and drove them around for about an hour before leaving them in the brush.

Fidel Villarreal's attorney said he would review the evidence before commenting.


http://www.dailynews.com/ci_11910038?source=rss

Uniformed Border Patrol agents occupied about half the courtroom's seats in a show of disapproval for their former colleagues. Raul Villarreal had been an agency spokesman, often granting interviews to Spanish-language media.

THROW THE BOOK AT 'EM!

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

A 24-year-old Brazilian who reached Florida said a Mexican police officer in Tijuana dropped her and about nine others off with a guide who took them on foot across the border to a U.S. "immigration police" officer. She arranged the trip through a travel agency worker in Brazil.

WHAT! So Travel agents book border jumping trips now?

Mexico Extradites Ex-Border Patrol Agents to U.S.


MEXICO CITY – The United States Embassy in Mexico announced that Mexican authorities have extradited to U.S. territory two former Border Patrol agents wanted in California for migrant smuggling.

Brothers Raul and Fidel Villarreal were arrested by Mexican authorities on Oct. 18, 2008 together with two alleged accomplices: Armando Garcia and Claudia Gonzalez.

The group taken into custody faces U.S. federal charges that range from people trafficking and money laundering to corrupting public officials and obstruction of justice, the embassy said in a communique.

While still with the Border Patrol, the Villarreal brothers allegedly accepted bribes from an organization that made money by getting undocumented foreigners into the United States illegally.

In 2006, when the Villarreal brothers discovered they were being investigated, “they resigned without notice as agents of the Border Patrol and fledâ€