4 Arrested as Border Patrol Cracks Alien-Smuggling Rings

Two investigations by a special Border Patrol unit have resulted in criminal cases against four men accused of operating sophisticated illegal immigrant smuggling rings, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

In the first case, the Border Patrol’s anti-smuggling unit used a sting operation to break up a smuggling ring that sent 400 illegal immigrants a month to work for labor contractors in Fresno and even as far north as Chicago, prosecutors said.

The investigation in Fresno and San Diego resulted in Wednesday’s charges of harboring illegal aliens against Guadalupe Lucero Brito, who was arrested during a raid on two houses in the 3400 block of Van Dyke Avenue in San Diego. Agents also arrested 27 illegal immigrants in the early-morning raid Tuesday.

The arrests came after agents posing as employers were contacted by smugglers who said they could provide them with workers, according to Border Patrol spokesman Steve Kean.

Lucero, who faces up to five years in prison and $2,000 in fines per illegal immigrant, acted as a point man for the ring that smuggled men across the border for employers in Fresno, Kean said. The workers were driven from the border to the Van Dyke Avenue “safe houses,” then sent in groups of 14 a day by plane to Fresno, Kean said. The employers paid $400 per worker, Kean said.

“This was a big operation,” Kean said. “I’ve seen even bigger ones. We once had one doing 700 (illegal immigrants) a month.”

Records found during the raid indicated that some immigrants were sent to Chicago and other cities as well, Kean said. Agents may also file charges against some of the employers involved, Kean said.

In the second case, three men were charged with conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens and other immigration-related crimes after a raid on a “safe house” on National Avenue in San Diego. Agents found 76 illegal immigrants at the one-bedroom house and arrested Osvaldo Zapata Lopez, 53, Juan Lopez Valles, 43, and Juan Ramirez Ramos, 29, the suspected smugglers.

Also on Wednesday, Border Patrol agents seized $7 million worth of cocaine from a pickup truck at the border in Tecate. The unidentified driver was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

And prosecutors charged a Santa Ana man Wednesday with trying to smuggle 146 pounds of cocaine discovered March 18 in the false compartment of a car at the Otay Mesa border crossing. Jose Luis Vargas Alvarez, who is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, faces a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years on drug charges.