Last week, Border Patrol agents found 16 suspected undocumented immigrants in a locked truck near San Diego, The Associated Press reports.  They were discovered quickly, and no injuries were reported. 

Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott says agents spotted the migrants early Thursday when they crossed the border near Tecate, about 35 miles east of San Diego.  Agents followed them to a parking lot less than a mile away, where they filed into a truck.  The door was closed with what the spokesman called a heavy-duty padlock.  The driver and passenger were arrested on felony smuggling charges. 

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According to The Associate Press, the first of 400,000 trees have been planted by the Mexican government along the US-Mexican border as a sign of protest against the fencing that the US is building along the border they share with Mexico.  The line of trees, called the “green wall” will eventually stretch for 318 miles along the border between the Mexican State of Coahuila and Texas. 

Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdes says the treeline is “our wall of life, and it competes with shame and hate.”  The mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas border town attended the inaugural tree planting last week in Piedras Negras.  Mayor Chad Foster is one of a number of critics who oppose the US government’s ongoing construction of 670 miles of border fence.   

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Last week, Annapolis, Maryland, police said they rounded up 45 suspected undocumented immigrant workers at various locations throughout the city, The Capital of Annapolis reports.  About 50 county police officers participated in the joint operation with ICE.  Units raided Annapolis Painting Services, where many of the workers were employed.   

“This will send a very strong signal that this administration, with the cooperation of ICE, will not tolerate the hiring of illegal immigrants in this county,” said County Executive John R. Leopold said.  Col. James Teare Sr. said officers were pulled from other details in all areas of the department to help with the operation.  “This is a coordinated effort that was well planned out,” Teare said. 

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A Fort Lauderdale federal judge sentenced a former US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent to seven years in prison this month for forcing a female detainee in his custody to have sex with him at his home, according to The South Florida Sun Sentinel.   

Wilfredo Vazquez, 35, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of sexual abuse, admitting he brought the woman to his home in September 2007 while transporting her to a Broward County holding facility for deportation to Jamaica. 

Vasquez had volunteered to transport the detainee between two Miami-Dade County ICE processing centers, according to court records.  In exchange for allowing the detainee to use his cell phone to make personal calls, Vasquez requested sexual favors.  When she protested, he drove her to his house and demanded sex.  The woman later told authorities that she was afraid to resist, as Vasquez had a firearm on him.   

Vasquez initially denied having sexual contact with the woman, according to court records.  However, her story convinced authorities because she was able to describe the route to Vazquez’s residence and the home’s interior.  A review of SunPass records for the vehicle Vazquez drove while transporting the woman confirmed that he exited the Florida Turnpike en route to his home.

US District Judge William Dimitrouleas called the incident a “horrific crime” that sent a terrible message to people in US custody.  The woman, identified in court records as M.C., did not attend the hearing; she sent a letter to Dimitrouleas, recalling the experience as causing “lingering shame, emotional distress, pain, and guilt.  Whatever sentence this Court imposes will be far lighter than the nightmarish existence that I must endure for the rest of my life.”