Two Mexican men accused of smuggling illegal immigrants (AP c/o Las Cruces Sun News)

Two Mexican men accused of smuggling illegal immigrants

The Associated Press

Article Launched: 03/07/2008 06:07:23 PM MST

LAS CRUCES, N.M.—Two Mexican men have been ordered held without bond after they were arrested in connection with an illegal immigrant smuggling scheme.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Rosendo Gamez-Avila, 30, and Miguel Trejo-Meraz, 52, over the weekend for unlawfully transporting more than two dozen illegal immigrants inside a moving van.

Border authorities responded to a call Saturday evening about a large group of people getting into a van on Arizona highway 80 near the Arizona-New Mexico border. The agents checked the van just south of Roadforks, N.M., and found three people in the cab and 27 others in the back. All were in the country illegally.

An investigation revealed that the driver, Gamez-Avila, was promised $100 for each illegal immigrant. Trejo-Meraz, a border-crossing card holder, allegedly drove the van from Douglas, Ariz., to Arizona highway 80, where he delivered it for Gamez-Avila to load and transport the immigrants.

Authorities said Trejo-Meraz was to be paid $200 for his role in the scheme. He was waiting on the side of the road for a ride back to Douglas when Border Patrol agents found him.

Gamez-Avila is charged with alien smuggling/transporting. Trejo-Meraz is charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.

A federal magistrate on Thursday ordered the men held without bond. The men were being detained at the Dona Ana County Detention Facility pending trial.

Immigration officials said the illegal immigrants each paid between $800 to $1,800 to be smuggled into the United States and taken to their final destinations, including Phoenix, Chicago and Dallas.

"Alien smuggling organizations are driven by greed," said Roberto G. Medina, special agent-in-charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in El Paso, Texas. "ICE will not allow the border to be used as an opportunity for criminal smugglers to profit from their crimes."