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- -----Original Message-----
- From: Alex Posey <alex.posey@stratfor.com>
- Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:45:58
- To: CT<ct@stratfor.com>
- Subject: [CT] ICE Busts Massive Human Smuggling Ring That Stretches Length
- of U.S.
- ICE Busts Massive Human Smuggling Ring That Stretches Length of U.S.
- FOXNews.com
- More than 800 law enforcement agents swooped down on a massive human
- smuggling ring in Arizona early Thursday morning, delivering a "stunning
- blow" to a criminal network that helped shuttled illegal immigrants all
- around the country.
- Decrease Font A A A Increase Font
- More than 800 law enforcement agents swooped down on a massive human
- smuggling ring in Arizona early Thursday morning, delivering a "stunning
- blow" to a criminal network that helped shuttled illegal immigrants all
- around the country.
- Thursday's strike is the largest coordinated action ever led by
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which partnered with eight other
- federal, state and local agencies to arrest 47 suspects in Phoenix,
- Tucson, Nogales and Rio Rico, Arizona.
- "Alien smugglers are a scourge," ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton
- said. "They violate our borders ... [and] profit at our expense by
- knowingly breaking our laws, day in and day out. Today we turned the
- tables on the smugglers."
- ICE agents targeted shuttle van services they believe have ferried
- thousands of illegal immigrants from southern Arizona to Phoenix,
- providing passengers fake $30 ride receipts and even coaching them on
- how to answer law enforcement agents if the buses were stopped at
- immigration checkpoints along the highway. From there the illegal
- immigrants were left at drop-houses or brought to shuttle services that
- offer rides to destinations all over the West Coast.
- ICE alleges that the businesses are part of a larger smuggling operation
- that carries illegal immigrants over the border from Mexico "to the far
- corners of the United States" places as far-flung as New York, Chicago
- and Los Angeles.
- Morton said multiple rings had been "stopped in their tracks," touting
- what he called an "unprecedented level of cooperation" with Mexican
- federal police, which arrested a leading smuggler south of the U.S.
- border on Thursday.
- Inside the U.S., the owners and operators of the Tucson-based Saguaro
- Roadrunner Shuttles, America's Shuttles, Guerro's Shuttles and Nogales
- Express Shuttles were all targeted in the raid, as were the operators of
- a fifth shuttle company in Phoenix, Sergio's Shuttle.
- On the surface the vans appear like any other shared-ride shuttles,
- taking about a dozen passengers around southern Arizona. But ICE
- officials said the companies relied almost entirely on criminal activity.
- ICE dubbed the investigation "Operation In Plain Sight" because of the
- "brazen" nature of the alleged smuggling scheme, which helped immigrants
- from Mexico, Central America and even China escape the watchful eye of
- border agents.
- "The defendants wrongly believed they could operate with impunity by
- hiding behind the veil of legitimacy these businesses provided," said
- Morton, adding that ICE has "dismantled these transnational
- organizations and literally seized the engines that were driving the
- criminal enterprise."
- U.S. Attorney Kenneth Burke said the operation dealt a "stunning blow"
- to international smuggling, "a vast conspiracy unearthed and now
- dismantled."
- ICE officials said the smugglers were not believed to be violent, but
- stressed the far-reaching implications of their alleged crimes.
- "This isn't a mom and pop enterprise. It's major international crime
- operating across borders with profits literally into the billions,"
- Morton said.
- "The smugglers care about only one thing: money. They aren't concerned
- about the human cost or the toll smuggling takes on our quality of life,
- the integrity of our borders or our nation's security."
- Law enforcement agents executed dozens of search and arrest warrants as
- far away as Tennessee on Thursday, the culmination of an investigation
- that has lasted more than two years.
- Officials denied that the timing of the raids was tied to the murder of
- Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, who was gunned down on his own property
- on March 27. Officials investigating the killing believe an illegal
- immigrant may have been responsible for the killing, which occurred near
- Arizona's border with Mexico.
- The raids long in the making had been delayed multiple times, ICE
- officials said.
- Thursday's actions involved agents from nine law enforcement agencies:
- ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, Customs and Border Protection, Arizona's Department
- of Public Safety, Pima County Sheriff's Department, Tuscon Police
- Department and Phoenix Police Department.
- ICE officials said they were not focusing on rounding up illegal
- immigrants but on bringing in the smugglers themselves, some of whom are
- citizens and legal residents of the U.S. The agency said it would take
- appropriate enforcement action if illegal immigrants were encountered
- during the raids.
- Indictments were being issued against the owners and operators of the
- shuttle services on charges that include money laundering, alien
- smuggling and conspiracy. Suspects are due in court as early as Friday.
- Officials said they seized $10 million in assets, including real estate,
- vehicles used for the smuggling and other property.
- ICE officials predicted that the strike would put an immediate freeze on
- smuggling activity in Arizona, having "dismantled" the smuggling network
- and arrested key players in the international ring.
- Though ICE predicted other groups would move in to take the place of the
- smugglers rounded up Thursday, the agency believes it will take a good
- deal of time for so sophisticated an operation to be put in place again.
- --
- Alex Posey
- Tactical Analyst
- STRATFOR
- alex.posey@stratfor.com
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