Thread: Officials rescue 37 illegal aliens from SoCal house

Officials rescue 37 immigrants from SoCal house

By The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 3:49 p.m.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Authorities say they have rescued more than three dozen immigrants locked inside a boarded up bedroom in a Southern California drop house.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday some of the 37 immigrants from six Latin American countries had been held for weeks in the 10-by-10-foot room in Riverside and had gone several days without food.

Authorities say they began searching for the house after a caller reported smugglers had threatened to kill his relative when the family could not pay for his release.

Debra Parker, assistant special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Riverside, says six suspected illegal immigrants were also arrested for investigation of the house, which was searched Tuesday afternoon.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... cal-house/

37 illegal immigrants found in Riverside County drop house

September 8, 2010 | 3:38 pm

Federal agents found 37 suspected illegal immigrants, smuggled into the U.S. from six countries, crammed into a small house in Riverside where some had been held captive for weeks, authorities said Wednesday.

Immigration agents raided the “drop house" after a relative of one of the captives called the Los Angeles Police Department. The caller told police the smugglers had threatened to kill his relative because the family failed to come up with enough money to pay for his release, according to Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles.

Agents found the immigrants – including two toddlers and a baby -- inside a small bedroom, measuring about 10 feet by 12 feet. The room was locked from the outside. The home is in one of the city’s older neighborhoods along Martin Luther King Boulevard, about a mile east of the 91 Freeway.

“As far as we know, they were all in pretty good physical condition, though some reported that they had not eaten for days," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE in Los Angeles.

Six suspected smugglers have been detained and are being questioned, but no arrests have been made, Arnold said.

“We’re still in the process of interviewing everyone," Arnold said. “In these circumstances, it does take some time to sort this out."

Agents took an additional seven immigrants linked to the same smuggling scheme into custody earlier in the day as they were being transported to other destinations in the Los Angeles area.

The 44 smuggled immigrants are from Guatemala El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. The group included 34 adult men, four adult women and six juveniles.

Those smuggled into the county illegally will eventually go though deportation proceedings. However, any immigrants who were assaulted by a smuggler or were victims of another crime will be treated as victims and could be eligible for a victims’ visa, he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... ouse-.html

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Officials rescue 37 immigrants from SoCal house/

Rescued why were they rescued?
I would have left them there. As for the baby I would have yanked that baby right out of the mothers arms and said she is dead to you now Betch.
How dare these people put their families in danger and KNOW the danger then run to us to clean up the mess..Machine guns at the border yep...

Those smuggled into the county illegally will eventually go though deportation proceedings. However, any immigrants who were assaulted by a smuggler or were victims of another crime will be treated as victims and could be eligible for a victims’ visa, he said.

What???

They are NOT victims, they were complicit in hiring the coyotes in the first place, and but for their criminal actions, they would be sitting in their hacienda in Mexico.

We could not be any dumber.

Those smuggled into the county illegally will eventually go though deportation proceedings. However, any immigrants who were assaulted by a smuggler or were victims of another crime will be treated as victims and could be eligible for a victims’ visa, he said

Of course! What are the odds they will ALL claim they were victims of another crime or assaulted by a smuggler!

These invaders aren't going anywhere, except to work!

I.C.E. News Release

September 8, 2010

ICE rescues more than 3 dozen smuggled aliens from LA-area home

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Acting on a tip from a concerned family member, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a federal search warrant at a home here Tuesday afternoon and found 37 smuggled aliens from six countries jammed inside a tiny bedroom where some claim they had been held for weeks. ICE HSI agents took an additional seven aliens linked to the same smuggling scheme into custody earlier in the day as they were being transported to other destinations in the Los Angeles area.

The discovery of the human smuggling "drop house" came after the Los Angeles Police Department alerted ICE HSI they had been contacted by an individual whose relative was being held by human smugglers at a residence somewhere in the Riverside area. The caller told police the smugglers had threatened to kill his relative because the family had been unable to come up an additional payment demanded for his release. Following two days of intensive investigation, including the deployment of an infra-red equipped helicopter, ICE HSI agents narrowed down the location and obtained a search warrant for the residence at 1879 Martin Luther King Blvd.

Once inside, investigators found the smuggled aliens crowded in a bedroom at the rear of the residence. The windows were boarded up and the room's only door locked from the outside. As a further deterrent against escape, all of the aliens had been stripped of their shoes. Some told investigators they had gone several days without food. The investigation into the smuggling scheme is ongoing.

"This incident shows yet again the ruthlessness and brutality of the smuggling trade," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE Office of HSI in Los Angeles. "While the volume of human smuggling activity in the Los Angeles area has declined in recent times due to stepped up enforcement and economic factors, the aggressiveness and violence exhibited by the smuggling organizations seems to be on the rise. Extortion, torture and physical violence are now commonplace in these cases."

The 44 smuggled aliens are from six countries: Guatemala (16); El Salvador (16); Honduras (7), Mexico (2); Ecuador (2); and the Dominican Republic (1). The group includes 34 adult men, four adult women and six juveniles. The smuggled aliens remain in ICE custody at this time pending further review of their cases.

The discovery of the drop house in Riverside comes just two weeks after ICE HSI agents found 35 smuggled aliens from Central and South America in a residence in Baldwin Park in Los Angeles.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 9, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100908riverside.htm

Why isn't the mother of the baby charged with child endangerment?

Why dosent the hispanic population in socal protest this! The treatment of their own people by their own people? Basicly what I get from all this is if you shoot some crazy person with a knife in self defence you should be punished and if you don't feed 44 people and keep them locked away in a room for a week its ok.