Suspected drophouse busted in Phoenix; 8 arrested (Arizona Republic)

Suspected drophouse busted in Phoenix; 8 arrested

by Jordan Johnson - Sept. 28, 2009 06:12 PM
The Arizona Republic

A group of suspected human smugglers was arrested Saturday for allegedly holding illegal immigrants in a Phoenix drophouse, police said.

Investigators of the Illegal Immigration Apprehension Co-op Team and the Phoenix Police Department SWAT team were called to the scene when a man escaped the drophouse and notified Phoenix police of its location near the 9000 block of West Cambridge Avenue, according to a release issued Monday by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Eight people were arrested, and 17 illegal immigrants were rescued after being tortured and held for ransom, the release said.

According to the statement, "the victims were beaten with a mop handle" and "made to undress while the armed guards photographed them with their own cellphones threatening to send the photos to their families."

The smugglers were arrested on suspicion of felony counts that included human smuggling, armed robbery, weapons misconduct, kidnapping and aggravated assault, according to the release.

This was the second discovery of a drophouse by investigators in eight days. Another drop house was found on Sept. 18, when Glendale police arrested six human smugglers and release eight victims at the 5000 block of West Maryland Avenue, the release said.

Investigators at both scenes seized guns and cellphones from the alleged smugglers.

The team that dismantled the two drophouses included investigators from DPS, the Phoenix Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Men caught with 22 immigrants in Brownsville (KGBT-TX)

Men caught with 22 immigrants in Brownsville
By Sergio Chapa
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 6:02 p.m.

Two men remain behind bars after federal authorities allegedly caught them taking 22 illegal immigrants to a stash house in Brownsville.

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents charged Edgar Villanueva-Sanchez and Apolinar Rocha-Morales with human smuggling charges on Monday.

Few details were available in the case but a criminal complaint revealed that the two men were caught transporting 22 illegal immigrants in a car.

Investigators wrote that the two men picked up the immigrants at the Rio Grande and were on their way to a stash house in Brownsville when they were arrested.

Villanueva-Sanchez and Rocha-Morales both appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville on Tuesday morning where they were denied bond.

Morgan ordered that two Honduran immigrants named Kevin Godin Ortega-Espinoza and Marlon Gerardo Ramirez-Mancia be held as witnesses in the cases.

40 arrested during crime sweep (Arizona Republic)

40 arrested during crime sweep

by Adam Wolfe - Sept. 29, 2009 05:49 PM
The Arizona Republic

Forty people suspected of being illegal immigrants were arrested during a four-hour crime sweep in the north Valley, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies conducted sweeps in four areas near Anthem Way on Monday night, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office.

Twenty-five of those arrested face human-smuggling charges, officials said; the others were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Deportation order tears family apart (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

Deportation order tears family apart

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Clive McFarlane

It is easy for some to disavow his humanity and tell the illegal immigrant to go home.

It must have been easy, family members contend, for Kathy Leandro’s former boyfriend and father of her 7-year-old daughter, to turn in Kathy’s husband, Fabrizio Leandro, father of her 18-month-old daughter and illegal immigrant.

But in a world that grows smaller every day, it is getting increasingly difficult to escape a simple truth — without compassion and fairness, the laws of a nation can be like a cancerous growth that silently eats away at its soul.

Karyn Wigren, Kathy’s mother and a Worcester resident, understands that now.

Ms. Wigren, her husband, Ms. Leandro and Ms. Leandro’s three siblings are representative of the hard-working American family. They live by the sweat of their brows and support their community by volunteering time and effort to various causes, such as running a baseball league for 16- to 18-year-olds.

Before the Leandros’ marriage and the subsequent arrest of Mr. Leandro, illegal immigration was never a dinner-table topic in the Wigren household.

Now it is consuming their lives.

In fact, Ms. Wigren is now a big advocate of immigration reform.

“We are about to say goodbye to someone who means the world to my daughter and his child,” she said.

“He is a phenomenal human being and we may not see him again for 10 years, if ever. It is tearing my family apart.”

Ms. Wigren is not asking any special favors of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. What irks her is the organization’s seeming disregard for the rights she believes illegal immigrants have under the American Constitution.

The family knew Mr. Leandro had entered the country illegally and that to gain legal status he would have to return to Brazil and file for re-entry into the United States.

Generally, an illegal immigrant who is deported is barred from returning to the United States for 10 years, but because Mr. Leandro is married to Ms. Leandro, he was eligible for a waiver that could potentially have him returning in 2-1/2 years.

But Ms. Leandro and her family are beginning to understand it doesn’t matter how well they stick to the script.

Mr. Leandro’s fate now rests on the discretion of ICE and the Brazilian government, and so far there is little to be hopeful about.

The family was lucky to have obtained an attorney when Mr. Leandro was arrested.

Had they not done so, he could have ended up in any of a number of ICE holding cells around the country and without the ability to contact family members.

Then, just two weeks before he is to leave the country, ICE told them they had lost Mr. Leandro’s file, including his passport.

They suggested the family contact the Brazilian consulate, which needed the original records confirming his Brazilian nationality in order to issue him travel documents.

Of course, all his official papers were in his lost ICE file.

Late yesterday, ICE called to say they had found Mr. Leandro’s passport, but the call raised more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, Ms. Leandro has moved back in with her mother, as she struggles financially to raise her children and the money — she estimates it will cost over $10,000 — to complete the process she hopes will bring her husband home to her and his child.

As part of the waiver process, she has to prove that it wouldn’t be easier for her to move to Brazil with her children.

“I can’t be with someone I love because they didn’t come here legally,” she said.

“I understand that, but I just don’t feel we have a chance to make things right.

“If I have to take my kids to Brazil and live there, I will.”

Ms. Wigren would like to console her daughter, to tell her a process is in place to bring about a good resolution.

But after what she has seen of the system so far, she has a sinking feeling that the battle has been lost and she feels for her daughter.

“She didn’t commit a crime,” Ms. Wigren said. “She married a man she loves.”

Arrests (Mineral Wells Index)

Arrests
From Staff Reports
Published: September 30, 2009 08:34 am

• J. Jesus Lemos-Jaime, 43, of Olney, was arrested Saturday on an Immigration and Customs Enforcment hold.

• Javier Flores Solorio, 21, of Wenatchee, Wash., was arrested Saturday on an ICE hold.

• Zeferino Ibarra Reyna, 42, of Fort Worth, was arrested Monday on an ICE hold.

Wreck on causeway nets six illegal South American immigrants (Victoria Advocate)

Wreck on causeway nets six illegal South American immigrants

BY J.R. ORTEGA
Originally published September 16, 2009 at 7:06 p.m.
Updated September 16, 2009 at 11:20 p.m.

PORT LAVACA - A traffic stop turned high-speed chase down state Highway 35 and over the Lavaca Bay causeway ended in a bail out of more than 10 suspected illegal immigrants Wednesday afternoon.

The chase began as a traffic stop at the intersection of Half League Street and state Highway 35, Police Chief John Stewart said.

The white Ford van increased in speed going north on state Highway 35 and rear-ended a vehicle on the causeway. It also eventually rear-ended Officer Stephen Stroud's patrol vehicle, Stewart said.

People then began jumping out of the van, Stewart said.

At one point, the van was recorded traveling more than 80 mph in a 40 mph zone, Stewart added.

The condition of two women in the first vehicle stuck was unknown, Stewart said.

Stroud was taken to Memorial Medical Center for observation and was later released, the chief said.

"The officer had no idea all these people were in there," Stewart said.

At least six of the suspected illegal immigrants were caught and taken into custody. The rest got lost in the brush, he said.

"They all appear to be South American," Stewart said. "We're calling immigration to come in."

Several of those apprehended sustained injuries as a result of the wrecks, Stewart said.

Though the search was called off, the police department, Calhoun County Sheriff's Office and a Department of Public Safety helicopter continued searching the area Wednesday afternoon.

Four Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody Following I-80 Stop (Gant Daily)

Four Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody Following I-80 Stop

September 17th, 2009
Steven McDole, correspondent

COOPER TOWNSHIP - Four illegal alians were detained following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 early Thursday morning.

According to state police in Clearfield, four Mexicans, ranging from 16 to 24-years-old were encountered during a routine traffic stop on I-80 at 4:15 a.m. When askedd the four were unable to provide sufficient evidence that they were in the United States legally. Officials of the United States Border Patrol were contacted and it was confirmed the four were in the U.S. unlawfully.

The Clearfield State Police turned the four over to Border Patrol officials.

Two arrested for unlawful entry into U.S. (Minot Daily News)

Two arrested for unlawful entry into U.S.

POSTED: September 21, 2009

Two men who entered the United States illegally were arrested in Minot Saturday afternoon following a traffic stop.

A Minot Police Department officer stopped a vehicle on South Broadway operated by Phillip Mahoney, Minot, for driving with expired registration. After interviewing two passengers in the Mahoney vehicle, Adelberto and Jose Robles Gonzalez, both of Jalisco, Mexico, it was suspected the men may have been in the U.S. unlawfully.

The U.S. Border Patrol was contacted and confirmed that the men were illegal aliens. Both were detained and transported to the Ward County jail on immigration violation charges.

Antioch man could face deportation following traffic stop in Franklin (The Tennessean)

Antioch man could face deportation following traffic stop in Franklin

September 22, 2009

FRANKLIN — A traffic stop could lead to the deportation of a man accused of being in the country illegally.

Juan Carlos Garcia, 33, who lives in Antioch, was stopped for speeding on Cool Springs Boulevard near Windcross Court on Sunday morning, according to police. Garcia was clocked traveling 55 mph in a 45 mph zone.

A police officer determined that Garcia's license was suspended for failing to satisfy a previous traffic violation. A computer check revealed that Garcia was wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deportation warrant.
Garcia faces charges of driving on a suspended license and speeding. He is being held at the Williamson County jail for federal agents.

Illegal immigrant fights S.F. drug charge (San Francisco Examiner)

Illegal immigrant fights S.F. drug charge

By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
September 25, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — The fate of a 23-year-old Honduran man who crossed the U.S. border illegally with the help of smugglers only to be arrested weeks later in a Tenderloin drug sting is now in the hands of a jury.

The case pits the issues of human trafficking versus illegal immigrants who commit crimes in San Francisco, a sanctuary city.

Police arrested Rigoberto Valle, 23, in an undercover “buy-bust” operation at Larkin Street and Golden Gate Avenue on June 4.

Plainclothes officers gave Valle $20 and he spit out two rocks of crack cocaine in return, according to the charges.

Valle, who listened to the trial through an interpreter, claims he was the victim of human trafficking and was forced to sell drugs in order to pay a $500 debt to a smuggler. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Hadi Razzaq told the jury on Thursday that the smuggler, also known as a “coyote,” put a knife to Valle’s throat, forcing him to sell drugs.

This happened after an arduous desert journey from Mexico to Nogales, Ariz., in which his family member paid a $1,500 fee. His trip to San Francisco would cost him another $500, which he couldn’t pay.

But prosecutors say the trafficking defense is just a way to avoid a prison sentence. If the jury believes his story, it could spark a defense that could potentially allow illegal immigrants to deal drugs with impunity.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Hechler, in his closing statement, said Valle’s story is unbelievable because he always had a chance to escape.

“He could have run. He should have run. He didn’t run,” Hechler said.

Valle could still be deported whether he is guilty or not because authorities believe he is in the country illegally. An immigration hold was placed on him when he was arrested for a suspected drug crime.

It is not uncommon to have instances where an immigrant is blackmailed into dealing drugs to pay off coyotes, Public Defender Jeff Adachi said.

“What is unusual is one of these cases proceeding to trial,” Adachi said. “It takes a lot of courage to come forward and tell what happened, and many times there is a fear of retribution.”

The jury began deliberating the case Thursday afternoon.