Two men in South Bay, California, were caught with 50 Mexican citizens who were packed onto a luxury yacht in the Los Angeles Harbor and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.  The two men sailed the rented boat to Ensenada, where they met smugglers who offered to pay them $250 per immigrant to bring them to the United States.  Under terms of their plea agreement, one man faces 18 to 24 months in prison and the other could face 12 to 18 months.  Immigration officials said immigrants told them that they paid $3,000 each in smuggling fees to the scheme’s organizers.

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A Seattle immigration judge is being criticized by a federal appellate court because of a deportation order of a Mount Vernon man to Mexico in 2001.  Salvador Rivera falsely claimed he was a Mexican citizen when questioned by law enforcement in order to avoid outstanding warrants for his arrest.  The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that although Rivera committed fraud, the deportation was not warranted, as it was not appropriate punishment for such an offense.