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Inside a 'big money bust'
How the feds cracked an immigrant smuggling ring ... and what they found
By SUSAN CARROLL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 11, 2010, 11:04PM


Sylvester Enrique Acosta was already angry before the state trooper pulled him over on Texas 6 one February afternoon nearly two years ago. He had 19 illegal immigrants crammed into a 12-passenger van.

He was still west of Wichita Falls, hundreds of miles from Houston, and the passengers were becoming unruly. He already had to call his boss once and put him on speaker phone to urge the passengers to calm down, so they wouldn't be pulled over.

The trooper peered inside the packed Chevy van and placed a call to the U.S. Border Patrol in Abilene, helping to launch an investigation into the Houston transportation company Transportes Tres Estrellas de Oro — one of more than a dozen businesses busted last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

ICE agents carried out a series of raids last Tuesday targeting companies that shuttle illegal immigrants from Houston to destinations across the U.S., picking up 20 of 22 defendants charged with conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants.

Court documents unsealed since the raids show how investigators identified their targets, persuaded drivers to testify against their bosses and gathered intelligence using confidential informants.

The documents also offer a glimpse into an underground world where investigators say the transportation companies bought and sold passengers for hundreds of dollars each, calling them “boxesâ€