Thirteen Arizona hotel owners have been accused by federal authorities of harboring undocumented aliens brought by smugglers into the United States. Authorities will seek to seize their businesses as part of a nationwide investigation into a network “stash houses,” which are usually hotels and motels, but also include apartments and houses, reports the Washington Times. After a nine-month undercover investigation, the owners of six hotels in Mesa, Arizona, have been charged with harboring undocumented immigrants and aiding human smuggling. Twelve of those named in the indictments have been arrested and are described as “ethnic Indians,” eight of whom are U.S. citizens while the other five are listed as British citizens in the United States on green cards.
Stash houses, also known as “safe houses” or “drop houses,” are locations where undocumented immigrants seek temporary shelter after coming into the U.S. and before they are taken, for a fee, to other locations throughout the country. The property owners or managers are paid by the smugglers for harboring the aliens. During the investigation, the motel owners rented rooms on numerous occasions to undercover ICE agents posing as smugglers, sometimes charging the agents higher rates than what they would normally charge their customers. The owners also instructed the agents on how to conceal their smuggling activities, advising them to register under false names, rent several rooms, and park their vehicles in inconspicuous places.
U.S. Attorney Paul K. Charlton’s Arizona office will be prosecuting the cases and has stated that they will seek seizure of the properties. The thirteenth owner, Roshankumar Bharatbhai Bhakta, 20, has been declared a fugitive and is still at large. All of the arrested has been charged with one count of conspiring to harbor undocumented immigrants, and if convicted, would face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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Six U.S. Navy crew members were among 10 people caught in an FBI sting operation targeting fake marriages to undocumented aliens for profit. The six are assigned to the USS Eisenhower in Norfolk, Virginia. Kenneth Adam Howard, 26 of Baltimore, approached them about entering the sham marriages for $3,000 to $4,000. Marriage of immigrants to U.S. citizens can aid in their claim for citizenship or employment. The seamen came to New York believing that they would be meeting undocumented immigrants from Egypt, Russia, South America and Europe, but were instead confronted by undercover FBI agents or informants and cooperating witnesses. The defendants could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. Bail is set at $200,000.
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The Arizona Daily Star reports that Gov. Janet Napolitano has ceased pursuing plans to seek federal emergency fund to help pay for more law enforcement on Arizona’s southern border. The governor’s decision is said to be based, at least in part, on the billions of dollars being spent as relief for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by the federal government. Gov. Napolitano has said that she plans instead to ask the government to do more to help Arizona, and other border communities, on an on-going basis to deal with the problems of illegal border crossing. Some aid is forthcoming since Congress passed the State Criminal Assistance Alien Program earlier in November. This program would reimburse states for the costs of detaining undocumented immigrants convicted of state crimes and would provide $405 million nationwide, up from $355 million. According to some of the governor’s reports, the state was due $71 million last year, but received less than $7 million. Gov. Napolitano had considered seeking a federal emergency declaration after having used her own powers to declare a state emergency in Cochise, Santa Cruz, Pima and Yuma counties.
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A Cuban woman received political asylum after having stowed away in a wooden crate flown by a cargo plane from the Bahamas to Miami, according to the Associated Press. Sandra de los Santos, 25, stowed away until a crew unloading the filing-cabinet sized DHL crate at Miami International Airport found her. The presiding immigration judge cited fear of persecution, especially given the unusual means of transportation, she might face if returned to Cuba as one of the reasons for which he granted her asylum status. The so-called wet-foot, dry-foot rule, which usually allows those Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay and sends back those who are caught while at sea, was also cited. De los Santos left Cuba in May 2004 for Nassau, and packed herself into the DHL crate three months later.
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Virginia Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr. and California Representative Duncan Hunter want Congress to build a 2,000 mile fence along the Mexican border. Senators Goode and Hunter proposed a plan for a fence from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, which will cost an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion. According to the Associated Press, there are currently many long segments across the U.S. border that have no physical barrier to entering the country. This bill would increase border patrol officers by 10,000 and immigration investigators by 1,250. Critics of the bill believe that it is unfeasible, and that immigrants who wish to cross into the United States will find other ways, through tunnels or boats for example.
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Near Campo, CA, a border patrol agent opened fire on a man who swung at him with a machete. The agent reportedly was patrolling alone in the mountains near a campground that is frequently used by undocumented immigrants. The agent saw a man who appeared to be attempting to cross the border. When confronted, the man attacked the agent with a machete. The agent fired at least two rounds and the man was hit twice in the upper body. The suspect was taken to the hospital and is now in intensive care. Border Patrol agents cite this as an example of the recent rise in attacks against border patrol officers.
