Seeking green cards, migrants lost $130,000


Illegal immigrant who swindled family could face prison time.

By Guillermo Contreras


Updated 12:18 a.m., Saturday, April 16, 2011

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Juan Hurtado, the patriarch of an extended family from Mexico living and working illegally in San Antonio, saw a glimmer of hope when his co-worker Marco Antonio Castillo bummed a ride and told him he had a brother who could help them get green cards and a path to citizenship.

But it would cost money for all the paperwork and processing: $2,200 per person to start, Castillo told him.

Between April 2006 and February 2009, Castillo gave the Hurtados excuses, and later threats, as he squeezed more than $130,000 from the family of 12, federal authorities say.

They turned over earnings, broke a kid's piggy bank, sold their meager property in Mexico, borrowed from acquaintances and funneled it all to Castillo — but still, no green cards. When the family suspected they were being had and pressed the issue, Castillo responded with threats that his relatives were cartel-connected and that he packed heat.

Then, one of the Hurtados did what few illegal immigrants do: outed the family by going to San Antonio police to report Castillo.

The resulting federal investigation found Castillo has no relatives working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as he had told the family. Agents found Castillo was in the country illegally himself and was able to con them because he is fluent in English and had lived here a few years. He even impersonated an ICE officer on the phone, records said.

“Castillo was an illegal alien with no ability to arrange papers or status,â€