Thread: CBP supervisor's wife arrested in immigrant smuggling case

CBP supervisor's wife arrested in immigrant smuggling case

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times / POSTED: 08/27/2015 09:06:18 PM MDT

The wife of a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor was arrested Wednesday on charges of conspiring with her husband to smuggle undocumented immigrants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Supervisory CBP Officer Lawrence Madrid, 53, his wife, Odet Madrid Corchado, 38, and Maria Guadalupe Jaime-Hernandez, 45, an undocumented Mexican immigrant living in Las Cruces, were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, immigrant smuggling and bribery charges.

Madrid Corchado and Jaime-Hernandez were arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents on Wednesday after a seven-count indictment issued on Aug. 19 was unsealed.

HSI agents had arrested Madrid at his home in El Paso on July 24. He has since been released from jail on a $20,000 bond.

Madrid Corchado was released from jail on a $10,000 bond, officials said. Jaime-Hernandez remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing Monday.

El Paso County marriage records show that Lawrence and Odet Madrid were married in 2006.

Madrid, who has been with the border agency for 20 years, is accused of accepting bribes allegedly collected by his wife and Jaime-Hernandez to allow undocumented immigrants from Mexico to enter the U.S. while Madrid worked at a pedestrian lane at the Bridge of the Americas, according to a federal criminal complaint. The conspiracy allegedly took place from 2010 and 2011.

The alleged scheme was discovered Jan. 23 when HSI agents arrested an undocumented immigrant in Anthony, N.M., who told the agents that he had entered the United States with the help of a CBP officer at the Bridge of the Americas, according to the criminal complaint.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_2...smuggling-case

Veteran El Paso CBP officer arrested on suspicion of alien smuggling

By Aaron Martinez / El Paso Times /
POSTED: 07/28/2015 01:57:42 PM MDT

Click here to read the rest of the story on NPR ››

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer who was briefly featured in an NPR article about combating drug smuggling on the border was arrested in connection with smuggling undocumented immigrants, officials said.

Lawrence Madrid, 53, who has been with the agency 20 years, is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing at 11 a.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton.

Madrid, a supervisory agent, was arrested on "alien smuggling charges" at about 8 a.m. Friday at his home in El Paso after a criminal complaint led to an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, DHS officials said in a statement.
He was booked into the El Paso County Jail the same day. Madrid posted bail Monday. The bond amount was not listed in jail records.

Madrid has been working for the agency since 1995, officials said.

According to an arrest affidavit, a man identified only as M.C. was detained in January 2014 by CBP officers in Anthony, N.M. M.C. told officers that his wife paid a man, only identified as O.C., to help smuggle him across the Bridge of the Americas international crossing in 2010. M.C. claimed that a CBP officer assisted in smuggling him, the affidavit states.

M.C. identified Madrid as the officer who allegedly helped smuggle him across the Bridge of the Americas in August 2010, according to the affidavit. M.C. told officers that he and two other Mexican citizens were allegedly smuggled through the pedestrian lane on the bridge where Madrid was working, the affidavit states.

The three men allegedly presented documents that did not allow them to enter the U.S. to Madrid, the affidavit states. M.C. claims that Madrid knew that the three men, who were walking in front of O.C., had paid to be smuggled across the border, the affidavit states. Madrid allegedly allowed the men to enter the U.S. illegally, the document states.

During the investigation, Homeland Security agents said they found that phone calls made by O.C. connected Madrid to the incident. Work schedules also showed that Madrid was working at the border crossing the day of the alleged smuggling incident, the affidavit states.

Agents also received information in May 2014 that a man, identified only as E.D., had been smuggled into the U.S. by a CBP officer. E.D. and his wife, identified as C.O., told officers that they had paid O.C. to smuggle E.D. across the border in 2011, the affidavit states. E.D. received a phone call Sept. 23, 2011, from an unknown man asking him to describe his clothes and told him to go to the Paso Del Norte port of entry and to sit on the third row of chairs in the lobby of the permit area. The man allegedly told E.D. that he would signal him to walk to the window he was working at, the affidavit states.

E.D. told officers that Madrid allegedly signaled him to the window and asked him to write his name down on a piece of paper. Madrid then walked away with the paper, came back a few minutes later and told E.D. to follow him, the affidavit states. Madrid allegedly walked E.D. across the pedestrian inspection lanes and allowed him to enter the U.S. illegally, according to the affidavit.

E.D. identified Madrid through a photo lineup. Investigators were able to corroborate E.D.'s story through phone records, international crossing records and interviews with other witnesses, the affidavit states.

CBP officials said they are working with investigators on the case, but had no further comment on the ongoing investigation.
"CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and has zero tolerance for corruption or misconduct within our ranks," U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a statement. "CBP will fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigation of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off duty."

Madrid was briefly featured in a 2010 NPR article that focused on CBP's efforts to combat drug traffickers. The article states that Madrid worked at the Bridge of the Americas. The five small paragraphs featuring Madrid describe him inspecting a truck crossing the bridge.

The arrest of Madrid comes less than a month after a government report found that CBP is vulnerable to corruption.

The report, which was conducted by the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was released June 29. It states that "CBP is vulnerable to the potential for corruption within its workforce which, if not detected and effectively investigated, could severely undermine its mission."

The council recommended that CBP increase staff in its Office of Internal Affairs in order to better investigate allegations of corruption.

Several CBP employees and U.S. Border Patrol agents in the El Paso area have been arrested in recent years in connection with attempts to smuggle people across the border.

In 2010, Martha Alicia Garnica, a technician with CBP, pleaded guilty to helping traffickers smuggle drugs and undocumented immigrants into the country. She was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Also in 2010, CBP Officer Ricardo Manuel Cordero was sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling undocumented immigrants and accepting bribes, according to court records.

Former Border Patrol Agent Jesus Miguel Huizar was convicted in 2008 of immigrant smuggling and money-laundering charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_2...uspicion-alien

The NPR article from 2010.

Drugs Cross Border By Truck, Free Trade And Chance

NOVEMBER 08, 2010 1:04 PM ET
JOHN BURNETT


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U.S. Border Patrol agents patrol the Rio Grande River, passing under the World Trade Bridge. Every 15 seconds one truck crosses the eight-lane bridge, which connects Laredo, Texas with the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo.
John Moore/Getty Images

At the core of the grisly Mexican cartel war, traffickers are fighting over border crossings, the gateways to the world's richest illegal drug market.

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the Gulf Cartel is battling the Zetas for control of the plaza, whose prize is the World Trade Bridge, the biggest commercial port on the southwest border. Each day, 4,800 trucks cross the bridge. That's one truck every 15 seconds. From there, via Interstate 35, it's a straight shot to America's drug-loving heartland.

"By far, not only is it the busiest in the amount of trucks, but it is also the busiest in the narcotics that are seized here each year," says Gene Garza, the longtime Laredo port director for Customs and Border Protection. "We get a lot of tile shipments where we find drugs. We get a lot of furniture with marijuana loads out of [the central-western Mexican state of] Jalisco."
Texas-Mexico International Bridges And Border Crossings

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, 13 out of the total 27 border crossings between Texas and Mexico allow commercial traffic, including the World Trade Bridge and the Bridge of the Americas. Both bridges also have dedicated "Free and Secure Trade (FAST) lanes" for trucks carrying commercial products pre-certified by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program.


Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and Texas Department of Transportation
Credit: Stephanie d'Otreppe and Hansi Wang/NPR



The Numbers Game

Truck traffic through Laredo has tripled since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force 16 years ago. If customs inspectors examined every truck, it would cripple free trade. Instead, one out of every five trucks is unloaded and inspected. So drug traffickers play the numbers game.

"They're probably thinking ... 'My truck is not gonna get examined. We're gonna go through Laredo to see if we can get through,'" Garza says.

This fiscal year, more than 4.7 million commercial trucks crossed into the U.S. from Mexico. According to the Department of Homeland Security, agents seized 96 tons of marijuana from trucks at southwest ports of entry in 2010, more than twice as much as in 2006. Officials say tougher enforcement in the lonesome stretches between border towns is funneling more contraband through these busy border crossings.



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An average of 4,800 trucks a day cross from Mexico to Laredo, Texas, on the World Trade Bridge, the biggest commercial port along Texas' southwest border

John Burnett/NPR

'First Thing You Look At Is Their Hands'

Customs and Border Protection officer Lawrence Madrid screens trucks all day at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, Texas. He quizzes the grizzled driver of a white Freightliner truck hauling vehicle electrical systems.

"Buenos días, buddy. Where are you going?" Madrid asks in Spanish.

The driver answers he's headed to a warehouse in Laredo.

"And what are you carrying?"

"Harnesses," he answers.

Madrid watches him carefully throughout their exchange. "When they're handing you the documentation, first thing you look at is their hands, whether they're trembling," the agent says, "Whether they ... take time to answer the questions or that they're stuttering when they answer — just stuff like that you pick up."

According to U.S. federal law enforcement and Mexican security sources, drug mafias have thoroughly infiltrated Mexican export and trucking companies.

Sometimes drivers are paid to haul dope that they know is hidden in their cargo. In 2010, Mexican truckers accounted for 78 percent of all security breaches to the U.S. customs' program that expedites cargo shipped by companies with pre-approved security plans. But sometimes the drivers are clueless.

A Constant Threat

A ton and a half of marijuana was discovered in a truck at the El Paso port of entry last year, part of the 109 tons of pot seized from 18-wheelers on the southwest U.S.-Mexico border in 2009.

Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

A Mexican trucker who gives his name as Andres sits in the cab of a black Kenworth idling at a truck stop in Nuevo Laredo, about to haul a load of blackberries across the bridge.

"First, you have to stay very close to your truck," he says. "Don't leave it alone, because in an unguarded moment when you leave to go buy some food, someone can put a package in there. It doesn't take long for them to do that. That's why I'm sitting right here in my truck, keeping an eye on things."

With the economic power to corrupt almost anyone who is useful to them, drug mafias have also gained access to shipping departments inside export plants.

"We've seen it at the manufacturer," says Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge of investigations at the San Antonio office of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. "Many of these [drug-smuggling] organizations will go out and buy a business so that there's at least records of legitimate transactions, legitimate importations or exportations. And then [they] gradually utilize those companies to smuggle either contraband north or proceeds southbound into Mexico."

It is costly and time-consuming for a company to get certified under the U.S. government's expedited trade program. For that reason most export plants do not want to jeopardize that relationship with a drug bust, says Alberto Islas, a Mexican industrial security consultant who advises maquilas, the export-oriented Mexican assembly plants along the border that make everything from auto parts to laptops.

The threat of organized crime going into maquilas is a constant threat. It was something we didn't see five or 10 years ago.

"The threat of organized crime going into maquilas is a constant threat. It was something we didn't see five or 10 years ago," Islas says.

'Organized Crime Affects Everything'

A case in point: A man named "Eduardo," who has requested anonymity because of safety concerns, owns a private security company in a Mexican border city, where he is hired by maquilas to make sure their U.S.-bound loads are clean. He is a former Mexican police official who boasts a long list of industrial clients, which he showed to prove his authenticity. Eduardo says he is speaking out because he's fed up.

"It's horrible," he says. "You feel super impotent when you can't do anything. Unfortunately, organized crime affects everything. Even companies you thought were clean."

Eduardo says he recently discovered that a large company that was certified by U.S. customs was passing drugs into the U.S. According to Eduardo, drug traffickers paid a manager in the company $50 to $100 per pound of marijuana that successfully made it across the border.

Expediting Security By Contract


A federal agent and his canine look for drugs in a load of cargo at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas.

John Burnett/NPR

What is startling about his allegation is that it happened at a well-known company that is certified under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). Under the U.S.-administered program, a Mexican exporter submits its personnel and security procedures to thorough checking by U.S. Customs, and once they are satisfied, the cargo enjoys expedited transit through U.S. ports of entry.

Eduardo says he saw evidence that company managers had smuggled marijuana in at least two trucks past his dogs and his men. Alarmed, he says he alerted his client and U.S. customs officials to the discovery, but nothing happened.

"It's assumed we have a contract to check the cargo inside the plant," Eduardo says. "They pay us to do that, but they never call us to enter the plant. We only check the trucks they send us. If a U.S. customs agent asks to see the company's paperwork, they'll show him they have a contract with us. But the contract doesn't reflect the reality."

He adds that he believes few exporters subvert the C-TPAT program, and he plans to let his contract expire with the company in question.

Brad Skinner, head of C-TPAT at the Department of Homeland Security, says he is not aware of Eduardo's story.
"We have no direct, corroborated information that any particular drug trafficking organization is specifically targeting the C-TPAT shipments," Skinner says. "Where we know of an incident where a C-TPAT member was involved, we'll take action to suspend those members."

According to Skinner, the ports of entry are more secure than they've ever been, bolstered by devices such as X-ray machines and radiation monitors.

A Billion Dollars Worth Of Cargo

At the inspection dock at Laredo's World Trade Bridge, port director Garza shows off all the security measures they employ.
"We have the contraband enforcement team officers working there. We have the canines working there. There's a lot of looking at the merchandise. [There are] a lot of people that go into the trailer," he explains as inspectors in blue uniforms use forklifts to remove pallets from the cavernous trailers.

Once a drug-sniffing dog checks them out, the goods can be reloaded and begin their journey northward.

"The peanuts are going to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Nivea skin cream is going to Norwalk, Conn., and the air conditioners are going to Lenexa, Kan.," Garza says, checking manifests on a clipboard.

With a billion dollars worth of cargo crossing the U.S.-Mexico border every day, free trade is one of the greatest gifts for drug traffickers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=131106638

This news is discouraging, however not even surprising. Two Presidential administrations in a row that will not support the purpose of the CBP, while the CBP sees cartel members get wealthy by smuggling. Fertile ground and fertile attitudes for fostering the attitude of,
Why not me getting rich, my employer does not care."

My dear Americans, we have strengthened that bad attitude by electing to the White House and the Congress people who promote law breaking while not enforcing law for thirty years. Then we did it again in 2014. Is'nt it any wonder that we have any honesty in law enforcement.in the USA? I have little faith that we will make any major changes in those attitudes in 2016?