Oxnard Immigrant Smuggling Ring Busted; 5 Jailed

Five people accused of smuggling hundreds of illegal immigrants, including infants, as part of an Oxnard-based ring were arrested late Thursday and ordered held without bond Friday, officials said.

Oxnard residents Juan Ramirez-Ramirez, 37; Maria Margarita Renovato-Rangel, 24; and Maria De Jesus Renovato-Rangel, 29; Joel Rodriguez-Vargas, 27, of Riverside; and Manuel Leon-Morales, 62, of Los Angeles were being held on felony charges, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

One suspect was arrested while she was transporting illegal immigrants, said David Wales, resident agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in Ventura County.

The five were among 11 suspects in Southern California and Arizona who have been charged with four felony counts each: harboring, transporting and bringing illegal immigrants into the country, and conspiracy, immigration officials and the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The arrests came after an investigation of more than a year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection assisted in the arrests.

“This is the largest organization that we’ve ever encountered specifically utilizing Ventura County and Los Angeles County as a conduit for moving aliens into the state,” Wales said.

Authorities believe Ramirez ran the ring for more than a year, with the Renovato sisters directing the day-to-day operations, the affidavit said. The ring smuggled about 50 to 100 people a month, Wales said.

Immigration officials were alerted to the operation in April 2005, when Oxnard residents told authorities they were suspicious of Ramirez’s lavish lifestyle, Wales said. The man appeared to be jobless and lived in a mobile home but had cars with rims worth thousands of dollars, he said.

For $1,600 to $2,000, smugglers would lead migrants across the border from the Hotel Internacional in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, with stops at drop houses in Yuma, Ariz., before taking them to the Los Angeles area, the affidavit said. Others were charged as much as $2,800 to be taken to the Midwest and East Coast.

The others charged were Cesar Huerta-Alcazar, 25, of Riverside; Dario Rodriguez-Vargas, 25, of Riverside; Martin Garcia-Lujan, 41, of Yuma; Norma Higinia Felix De Sanchez, 41, of Yuma; Miguel Gonzalez-Hernandez, 27, of Los Angeles; and an unidentified suspect.