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| Home Front: WoT |
| Ring that smuggled 6800 illegals indicted |
| 2007-03-29 |
| A human smuggling scheme responsible for arranging air transportation for thousands of illegal immigrants has been broken up with the indictments of 14 people who worked in travel agencies, officials announced Thursday. Six Phoenix-area travel agencies were responsible for moving at estimated 6,800 people since 2005, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said. In addition to the 14 owners or employees of the agencies who were indicted, two people who ran so-called "drop houses" also were charged in the case. The agencies arranged for one-way travel to destination cities across the nation, in many cases through McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Goddard said the year-long investigation uncovered ticket sales worth about $2 million. "This case underscores our increased commitment to investigate and prosecute human smuggling in Arizona," Goddard said. The travel agency workers were charged under state human smuggling laws because they were facilitating the human trafficking. Undercover officers who bought some of the tickets made it clear they were intended for illegal immigrants, authorities said. According to Goddard, illegal immigrants would be brought into the Phoenix area by human smugglers, put up in drop houses, and then provided the airline tickets to their final destinations. The Las Vegas airport was usually chosen because the Phoenix airport had a greater law enforcement presence. |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #2 jeebus the elites are selling out another chunk of our country each day they diddle around with band aids to solve illegal immigration. No longer do immigrants even have to try to assimilate but insist that we change our culture and country to suit them. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-03-29 23:45 |
| #1 Just wait until the Mexican truckers start coming into our country in about a month. It will get alot more ugly. |
| Posted by: Jan 2007-03-29 21:00 |