An immigrant smuggler from Tijuana, Anselmo Pedroza, was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison for the murder of three immigrants killed when a pickup truck crashed, even though he was not driving the truck. Experts believe this may be the first such case in the country.

Pedroza, who has been apprehended by immigration officials 45 times since 1998, claimed he told the driver to slow down.  But witnesses state that he urged the driver to speed up to get away from immigration officials.  The driver was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison last month.

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Over the last three months a Live Oak, Florida, inspection stations set up to check agriculture products coming in and out of the state for pests and disease are proving to be valuable in other ways.  Inspectors have found undocumented immigrants as well as millions of dollars in cocaine and marijuana, 60 widescreen TVs, $157,000 in stolen computer parts and $500,00 of stolen medicine.

Live Oak finds so many illegal items because it is the first station on Interstate 10 for trucks coming in from the west.  Since September 11, eight dog teams, a new training officer and four gamma ray trucks that allow inspectors to look through the sides of other vehicles have been added to the inspection station.

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In accordance with the United Nations commemorating the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1958, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is strengthening its commitment to human rights protection.  ICE is announcing this week that it is fortifying its dedication to America’s fundamental principles of freedom, equality and opportunity.  ICE has authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to determine who is admissible to the United States and who can receive status to remain in the country. Currently, ICE has more than 200 open cases against potential human rights violators residing in the United States.

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Two Mexican nationals who were registered sex offenders were deported to Mexico last week.  Alfonzo Snell Rodriguez and Rodolfo Olague Armendariz were convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in the 1990s.   ICE agents in El Paso tracked them down last week.

Both men were legal permanent residents of the United States, but since they were not US Citizens, they can be deported and barred from the United States after they serve their time.  The two were allowed to stay in El Paso while fighting their deportation with the Board of Immigration Appeals, but they failed to turn themselves in to the deportation processing center when their appeal was denied.

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Immigration officials allowed four Ecuadorians to be brought into the United States as part of a rare sting operation to test whether the owner of five travel/shipping stores was willing to open a new alien smuggling route.  Storeowner Wilson Marcelo Lopez along with three others allegedly involved in the smuggling were arrested last week on charges of illegal smuggling and held without bail. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, based on information originally provided by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, ran the sting according to federal court documents.  The four people who were smuggled in from Ecuador had been monitored while they were in the United States and were in the process of being arrested.  The smuggled Ecuadorians will be returned to their native country.