Thread: TX: Man Sentenced For Transporting Illegal Aliens

Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007

Man Sentenced For Transporting Illegal Aliens
By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A Mexican citizen who pleaded guilty to transporting 10 illegal aliens through Smith County was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison.

In March, Carlos Marquez-Gonsalez was stopped in his 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe by a Smith County Sheriff's deputy on Interstate 20 for traffic violations. The deputy became suspicious when he observed several men attempting to hide on the rear floorboard of the vehicle.

The defendant said they were all illegal aliens he was hauling to North Carolina, court documents stated. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was contacted and discovered they were Mexican nationals illegally in the United States.

Roque Velasco-Vicotoria, an undocumented alien in the Tahoe, told the ICE agent he had paid an unknown smuggler $2,000 in Mexico to be brought into the United States. Another man, Rigoberto Garcia-Lopez, reported that he paid $1,500 to be smuggled into the country.

They were transported from Arizona to East Texas and had intentions to drive to North Carolina to work, the defendant told the authorities.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis sentenced Marquez-Gonsalez, who used a Spanish-speaking interpreter, and ordered him to report to immigration officials for deportation proceedings after he serves his prison sentence. The defendant was represented by U.S. Public Defender Ken Hawk while Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen Hurst prosecuted the case.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20071 ... /712120367

'Ordered him to report' - I hope that doesn't mean it's voluntary.