Thread: Illegal immigrant smuggles history

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... s1204.html
Illegal immigrant smuggles history

Richard Ruelas
Republic columnist

Dec. 4, 2006 12:00 AM

When Adolfo Guzman-Garcia climbed into the cab of a red pickup in May, the Mexican citizen wanted to get back to his construction job in Atlanta. He didn't expect to make history.

Guzman-Garcia became the first person convicted by a jury for the crime of conspiring in his own smuggling.

"I never thought that it would be a big deal," Guzman-Garcia said in Spanish, during a phone interview from Georgia. advertisement

The 28-year-old was released pending his sentencing, scheduled for Tuesday. "I didn't know anything about these laws. I didn't know what was happening over there."

The truck that carried Guzman-Garcia was spotted speeding along a desert highway and pulled over by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputy on May 5. When the truck stopped, the occupants bailed out.

Some, including the driver, fled into the desert. Eleven men, including Guzman-Garcia, were charged with conspiracy to commit smuggling, a Class 4 felony.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is pursuing these cases by applying the state's conspiracy statute to the human-smuggling law. The practice is the target of a federal lawsuit. And Thomas himself, recognizing the novel legal ground and political importance of these cases, has devoted top criminal attorneys from his office to secure convictions of the smugglers' cargo he's turned into defendants.

Guzman-Garcia was surprised by the Miranda warning, interrogation and trip to jail. "I thought they were going to call immigration and send us to Mexico," he said.

Had he been returned to the border, as is common practice, Guzman-Garcia told me he would have stayed in Mexico. But after being pressed, after being asked about the money he was making in construction up here, he relented. "The truth is," he said, "I would have returned."

Guzman-Garcia said he has lived in the United States for eight years. At first, in California, then Georgia. He has helped build large hotels in Florida, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

The majority of the men he works with are illegal immigrants, he said. "The only gringos are the managers," he said.

Guzman-Garcia returned to Mexico a few weeks before his arrest to see his ailing mother. It was the first time he had returned since he first came to the U.S.

When authorities told Guzman-Garcia he was being charged with conspiracy, he didn't quite understand. After his public defender explained the case and his choices, Guzman-Garcia decided on a trial.

He was the only one from that pickup who decided to fight. Eight others took plea deals and two skipped bail and never showed up in court.

At trial, prosecutors "transformed things really well," Guzman-Garcia said. "Ultimately, they made it sound as if I was a coyote. In their eyes, I was to blame."

The state's closing argument included a slide show that illustrated Guzman-Garcia's role in the smuggling conspiracy.

It made him seem as bad as the smuggler, "even though I didn't have much say," he said. "I was just a passenger."

Guzman-Garcia said he would catch a plane to Phoenix for his sentencing, as he did for his trial and other court dates.

"I'm not afraid and I don't think I did anything wrong," he said.

The possibility of jail time won't scare him into becoming a fugitive. "I hope they don't (impose jail). But either way, it's better to face it head-on."

Theres more up this guys sleeve then his arm. good story to watch develop

Arizona Appeals Court Upholds Conspiracy Conviction for Illegal ImmigrantMon Nov 10, 2008 at 02:47:08 PM

By Ray Stern

The case of Adolfo Guzman-Garcia came to symbolize the ineptness of Maricopa County Andrew Thomas' scheme to prosecute illegal immigrants for conspiracy to smuggled themselves into the country -- in the beginning, anyway.

With a ruling last week by the Arizona Court of Appeals, though, the case now represents another victory for Thomas on the issue.


Adolfo Guzman-Garcia was among the first illegal immigrants to be tried under a novel plan hatched by Thomas to apply a conspiracy angle to the state's 2005 anti-human-smuggling law. Thomas' plan was condemned by pro-immigration advocates, and when a jury found Guzman-Garcia guilty, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Toole threw out the conviction.

Since then, though, a similar conviction of another immigrant on conspiracy charges was upheld in July by the Appeals Court. The same day that news was announced, Thomas held a press conference to say he'd prosecuted more than 750 immigrants under the conspiracy interpretation. A New Times article at the time pointed out the cost to jail those people cost county taxpayers more than $5 million.

Last week, the Appeals Court upheld Guzman-Garcia's conviction, leaving no doubt -- if there was any left -- that prosecutors in Arizona can charge immigrants with smuggling themselves.

Still, no prosecutors from other Arizona counties have taken Thomas' lead. Neither have prosecutors with the state Attorney General's office. And apparently, no other Arizona law enforcement agency besides the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has even submitted such charges for prosecution.

Whether the Appeals Court decisions means more counties will start charging immigrants this way -- or whether the state could afford such a wide-scale prosecution effort -- is yet to be seen.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com

Guzman-Garcia said he would catch a plane to Phoenix for his sentencing, as he did for his trial and other court dates.

Need ID to "catch a plane", genius. The "ID" he obviously didn't have to fly into the US or he wouldn't have smuggled himself in.

How is he even able to get into court houses without ID and why the hell would they let him out in the first place????