Tuesday, 1 February 2000
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/112-8588.html
By Ignacio Ibarra
The Arizona Daily Star
DOUGLAS - Undercover agents using the dark of night to blend
in with illegal entrants are scoring hits on smuggling operations.
Authorities credit this approach with helping boost the cases
presented for prosecution to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Last
year, the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol presented more cases
than any of the agency's 21 sectors; Tucson continues the pace
in 2000.
The prosecutions mainly are aimed at two groups: people who smuggle
illegal entrants for profit and illegal entrants who have a history
of criminal violence, said Cathy Colbert, a spokeswoman for the
U.S. Attorney's Office In Phoenix.
``Basically, we don't decline any cases that come from the Border
Patrol, and our conviction rate is tremendously high,'' said Colbert.
The Tucson Sector filed 3,451 cases for prosecution in fiscal
1999, 31 percent of all cases filed nationwide and nearly seven
times the 552 cases filed locally in fiscal 1995.
Since Oct. 1, when fiscal 2000 began, the Tucson Sector filed
more than 1,100 cases - 375 in January alone. That's more than
the Tucson Sector has ever filed in one month.
Thirty-two people arrested since January face prosecution based
on the investigative work of Douglas-based undercover officers
known as ``disrupt'' units. Similar teams operate in the Nogales
area.
Here's an example of how they work:
Two undercover Border Patrol agents infiltrated a group of 11
migrants Jan. 20, shortly after they crossed the border east of
Douglas. The agents walked with the group to a home three blocks
north of the border on A Avenue.
Inside, they cut a deal with the guide and another man for a ride
to Phoenix at a cost of $700 each. Others in the group were headed
to other destinations, including Oregon, at a cost of up to $1,300
each .
Once the deal was made, the agents announced themselves as Border
Patrol officers and arrested the smugglers, said John Fitzpatrick,
prosecutions supervisor for the Tucson Sector. The Border Patrol
kept two of the 11 illegal entrants as witnesses and deported
the other nine.
The same day, agents acting on a tip arrested six illegal entrants
at the Sierra Vista airport as they prepared to board a flight
for Phoenix. They found four more in a taxi outside the airport.
A motel receipt on the suspected smuggler led agents to 10 more
illegal entrants hiding in two rooms at a Sierra Vista motel.
The investigation led to three arrests. Jose Apodaca Gamboa and
Julian Alberto Ruiz Flores, both 18-year-old Mexican citizens,
were taken into custody in Douglas on charges of entering, transporting
and attempting to transport illegal entrants. Hugo Peraza Gonzales,
21, was arrested in Sierra Vista on charges of transporting and
attempting to transport illegal entrants.
Smuggling is on the rise in the Sonoita and Tucson areas, in part
because smugglers are trying to circumvent Border Patrol checkpoints
on state highways 90 just south of Benson and 83 north of Sonoita.
The conviction rate is high for the cases presented for prosecution,
Fitzpatrick said. The U.S. Attorney's Office has lost only two
of 1,000 cases filed in the 18 months he's headed the prosecution
office, he said.
``All of these cases have an impact,'' Fitzpatrick said, ``especially
when you look at the number of smugglers, guides, harborers that
are being prosecuted. The word gets out.''
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