INS Agent Indicted in Smuggling of Illegal Immigrants

SAN DIEGO —  A former immigration inspector was arrested and indicted Wednesday on charges that he smuggled three illegal immigrants through a border checkpoint while he worked at the San Ysidro port of entry last year.

Keith Manuel Johnson, 38, was arrested by federal agents at the San Diego home of his girlfriend, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, said Joseph Artes, special agent in charge of the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Three other illegal immigrants were also found living at the home. The immigrants and the girlfriend were taken into custody by immigration authorities for eventual deportation, Artes said. They are not suspects in the smuggling case, he said.

Johnson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday and remained jailed without bond, assistant U.S. Atty. Paul C. Johnson said.

“It’s not the first one we’ve had like this, but, thankfully, these types of cases are rare,” he said.

The San Ysidro port of entry near Tijuana, 15 miles south of San Diego, is the busiest land border port in the world, according to the U.S. Customs Department.