Police have arrested more than 40 people and broken up a family-run smuggling ring that hauled illegal immigrants from Mexico to Arizona for generations, officials said on Monday.The operation, which began in 2001, broke up a ring that smuggled undocumented immigrants to Bowie, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix, from Agua Prieta in Mexico, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
Alonzo Pena, ICE special agent in charge of Arizona, said a grand jury handed down an indictment this month charging 55 people in connection with the operation. Eleven suspects remained at large. "This was an extremely significant smuggling operation and one of the largest of its kind in the state," Pena told Reuters. "It was run by a family that passed on their activity from one generation to another, from a father to his two sons and their wives," he added.
Pena said those charged included the alleged ringleader and his wife, guides who ferried people across the desert border to Arizona, couriers who picked up smuggling fees sent by wire transfers and drivers. Pena said the group smuggled hundreds of undocumented immigrants, including Mexicans and Salvadorans, over the border to Bowie and onto destinations across the United States.