25 arrested, charged with harboring illegal immigrants

Posted: June 11, 2009 07:02 PM CDT

Updated: June 11, 2009 07:02 PM CDT







EL PASO -- Agents with the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) arrested 25 people who allegedly used the Gateway Hotel Downtown to harbor illegal immigrants.

Amongst those arrested are Song U.Chon, the owner of the hotel and two Gateway Hotel managers.

Chon and 24 others arrested in connection to the investigation during the last two weeks are charged with Conspiracy to Smuggle and Harbor Illegal Aliens for Financial Gain, according to U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge Manuel Oyala Torres.

According to Murphy, U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney denied bond to Guillermo Lopez-Nunez, the alleged ringleader of the human smuggling organization, Thursday.

Garney said a judge denied bond last week for Maria Isidra Luna-Aviala, another alleged leader of the organization; Alejandro Garcia-Rico, the night shift manager at the Gateway Hotel; and Jose Herrera, a former maintenance man at the hotel.

Luna-Avila is also charged in the death of an undocumented immigrant on July 25, 2007. According to the indictment, an undocumented immigrant attempting to return home to Mexico drowned in the American Canal Downtown. If convicted, Luna-Avila faces life in prison.

Also arrested last week was Gateway Hotel day shift manager Armando Arzate and Juo-Hsuan Hsu, the owner of the now-closed May's Cafe. The restaurant was once located inside the Gateway Hotel. The bond for Arzate and Hsu was set at $20,000.

On May 27, 2009, a federal grand jury in El Paso returned a 51-count indictment against Chon, the Y.C.L. Corporation (d.b.a. The Gateway Hotel), Lopez-Nunez, Luna-Avila, Arzate, Garcia-Rico, Hsu and others, according to a news release.

Amongst the charges listed in the indictment are Conspiracy to Commit Alien Smuggling, Alien Smuggling, Alien Smuggling Resulting in Death, Money Laundering and Structuring.

Structuring involves the manipulation of a financial transactions in order to avoid reporting how the money was obtained. Under federal law, any bank deposit of more than $10,000 must be accounted for.

In the indictment, the federal government seeks a $1 million monetary judgement against Chon and the forfeiture of the Gateway Hotel.

According to the indictment, the defendants begin devising a plan to smuggle hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico back in June 2003. The defendants would allegedly harbor the illegal immigrants by providing them with shelter, food and clothing at the Gateway Hotel until their family members or "sponsors" paid a $2,000 fee to the ringleaders, the indictment charged.

The indictment details the fee was usually paid through Western Union and Money Gram wire transfers and the defendants would then transport the illegal immigrants to their final destination elsewhere in the country.

According to officials, each smuggling count carries up to ten years imprisonment. Each money laundering count is punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years and each structuring count carries up to 10 years imprisonment.


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