Brea Raids Net 59 Aliens and 9 Smuggling Suspects

Federal immigration agents Wednesday raided two Brea homes and arrested nine suspected smugglers and 59 undocumented aliens who were crammed into a one-car garage.

The arrests capped a three-month investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which called the operation “one of the largest” in Orange County in recent years, John Brechtel, supervisory agent, said.

INS agents found “wall-to-wall people” eating a breakfast of potatoes in the garage when they arrived at a two-bedroom home at 223 W. Imperial Highway around 11 a.m., Brechtel said.

Some Waited 12 Days

Most of the Mexican nationals, who included two children under the age of 2 and one pregnant woman, had arrived in a large truck from San Diego at about 3 a.m. Wednesday, Brechtel said. Several, however, had been waiting for as long as 12 days for relatives to arrange for their next move, he said.

“While at the location, we were receiving calls from as far away as Fresno,” Brechtel said. Relatives and friends in California were paying up to $650 for the transportation of the Mexicans, he said.

In a nearby home at 242 S. Madrona Ave., INS agents and Brea police arrested Juan Orozco-Jaracuaro, who told authorities he is 25, a resident of Brea and an undocumented immigrant. Brechtel said the home on Madrona Avenue housed smugglers.

Also arrested were Larid C. Bishop, 19, of Oceanside; Martin Zamora-Macedo, 20, of Brea; Carlos Macedo-Chavez, 43, of Brea; Jose Garcia-Salcido, 32, of Brea; Atanacio M. Briseno, 23, of Fullerton; Eduardo Ramirez-Robles, 23, of Los Angeles and Felix Macedo-Pineda, 54, of Brea.

A ninth suspect, a 16-year-old female married to one of the eight men, also was arrested, Brechtel said. Most of the arrested men said they were illegal aliens.

Face Charges

They were taken to a detention facility in Los Angeles, where some await deportation while others will remain as witnesses for the INS, Brechtel said. The nine people suspected of transporting illegal aliens from Tijuana to Brea via San Diego face charges of conspiracy to harbor and to transport aliens, he said.

According to the INS, the people traveled through hills across the Mexico-U.S. border and then were picked up in a variety of vehicles and taken to a home in San Diego. One to two days later, they were transported in what may have been a large furniture truck to Brea, the INS said.

During the three months INS kept tabs on the Brea homes, about 500 Mexicans each month illegally made their way to Orange County with the aid of what authorities called a smuggling operation.

Several neighbors of the Madrona Avenue home contacted late Wednesday said they had not seen unusual activity in the residence.

“I never heard anything. My kids play right nearby and you know how kids tell you everything. But they didn’t say there was anything strange,” said Maria Cabrera, a Madrona Avenue resident.

Maria R. Garcia, who also lives near the house on Madrona, said she thought a quiet family lived in the home.