lframerica.com Blog

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/brothers_85658___article.html/bernardo_indicted.html

A federal grand jury has returned a 19-count indictment against twin brothers Alberto and Bernardo Peña, and three others on charges of obtaining fraudulent work visas for more than 80 Indian nationals.

The Peña brothers, both 38, face charges of obtaining fraudulent H-2B visas, which are used to procure foreign manual labor. The visas are for non-immigrants and allow an employer in the United States to hire foreign workers for temporary non-agricultural work, according to federal court documents.

Also named in the indictment are Mahendrakumar “Mack” Patel, 55, Rakesh Patel, 36, and Marte Othon Villar Sr., 48, according to federal court documents. Are all charged with encouraging and inducing the illegal immigration of the Indian nationals in exchange for thousands of dollars per visa.

“Today’s significant charges represent the excellent task force-like efforts of four federal agencies,” U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said in a prepared statement issued Friday. “All of the criminal charges are the result of a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional investigation.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of State, Department of Labor, and the Internal Revenue Service all worked together on the case.

Charles Keith Viscardi, 48, the owner and manager of a construction company located in New Iberia, La., is alleged to have enlisted AMEB Business Group Inc., a visa facilitation firm owned and operated by the Peñas and Villar, to hire foreign workers.

Viscardi asked AMEB Business Group Inc. to procure foreign manual labor under the H-2B visa program.

Viscardi, who was charged on March 20 with conspiring to encourage and induce illegal immigration in connection with the Indian scheme, is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Colvin Botley. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

AMEB procured workers from Mexico for Viscardi’s construction company, however, the Peñas and Villar also submitted documentation to the Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services and other governmental agencies seeking workers from India on behalf of Viscardi.

Mack, of Fort Worth, and Rakesh, of Houston, recruited citizens of India who were willing to pay between $20,000 to $80,000 in exchange for visas to enter the U.S., the news release states.

In spring 2006, Alberto and Bernardo traveled to India to assist the Indian nationals with the application process and allegedly visited and communicated with the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai.

The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai received an anonymous fax on Feb. 26, 2006, “which alleged that a recent group of visa applicants had each fraudulently obtained visas by paying an unknown U.S. person fees between $57,000 to $68,000,” court documents show.

The 88 Indian nationals began to arrive in the United States from late February to late March 2006 and entered the country, court documents show.

Each of the Indian nationals that were granted H-2B visas arrived to Houston, where they made payments for their visas in the form of cash, cashiers checks and international money orders.

“None of the Indian nationals were ever employed by Viscardi at the construction company,” the news release states. “Instead, they simply disappeared throughout the U.S. after paying for their fraudulently obtained visas. All of the conspirators, including Villar and Viscardi, shared in the proceeds derived from the scheme.”

All defendants are accused of assisting in the procurement of the H-2B visas for the Indian nationals, although they allegedly knew none had intentions of working for the company that obtained the visas on their behalf.

If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Bernardo faces an additional 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted of money laundering for the purpose of concealment. Mack and Alberto each face an additional 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of violating the money laundering spending statute.

Mack and Rakesh appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Mary Milloy in Houston. They were released on a $50,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in federal court on April 15 before U.S. Magistrate Calvin Botley in Houston.

Alberto appeared Friday before Milloy and was released on a $50,000 bond.

Bernardo and Villar remain at large, and warrants for their arrest have been issued.

Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts is asked to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423).

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/houston_85630___article.html/area_forced.html 

April 3, 2008

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/nacogdoches_85631___article.html/county_court.html

April 3, 2008

http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/cocaine_2982___article.html/wielenga_officials.html

April 3, 2008

NEWBERRY SPRINGS - Officials confiscated approximately $1 million worth of cocaine during a routine traffic stop late Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 40 at Newberry Springs.

During the traffic stop, officials said the driver began acting suspiciously. While searching the vehicle officials said they uncovered 25 kilograms of cocaine according to Sgt. Gregg Wielenga of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s High Intensity Criminal Interdiction Team.

“This is our biggest seizure of 2008 so far,” said Wielenga. “This was obviously part of a large drug-trafficking operation.”

On the street, a kilogram of cocaine is worth approximately $40,000, making the entire load worth $1 million, he said.
The vehicle transporting the cocaine had began its journey in the Los Angeles-area with North Carolina as the destination, said Wielenga. The origin of the cocaine or where it entered the U.S. is still unknown.

Deputy Antonio Juarez was conducting the stop due to the driver’s failure to wear a seat belt, when the driver’s actions warranted a search of the vehicle, said Wielenga.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/officials_85497___article.html/increasingly_recklessness.html

McALLEN - Human smugglers are employing increasingly risky and dangerous methods to transport illegal immigrants since security tightened along the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement officials said.

“They’re getting less area they can successfully enter,” said Oscar Saldaña, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

“That’s why were seeing more of these desperate acts. And unfortunately, we anticipate there’s going to be more of these types of events.”

On Thursday a Ford F-150 carrying more than 20 illegal immigrants collided with another vehicle on Expressway 83 in Peñitas, leaving three dead and another 14 injured.

They were the latest victims of what appears to be a growing and often fatal trend in the Rio Grande Valley of human smugglers, or coyotes, filling cars and trucks with loads of immigrants far beyond the vehicles’ capacity and then driving at high speeds, often to elude law enforcement.

Law enforcement’s presence here has increased significantly over the past six years, since President Bush ordered federal law enforcement agencies to tighten control of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The number of Border Patrol agents in the Valley has risen from about 1,200 in 2002 to more than 2,200 this year, Saldaña said. And local law enforcement agencies - from small-town police departments to the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office - have been awarded a series of state and federal grants to dedicate officers to border security details.

“You’re talking about human smuggling and drugs,” Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. “There’s no doubt in the last five years the attitude of the human smuggler has taken a 180. They have transformed themselves into a commodity broker that has no limitations to getting their cargo to where they want to go.”

Less publicized than their counterparts in the drug trafficking industry, human smuggling organizations tend to be highly structured, with resources and operatives spread across the globe, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Janice Ayala, who directs investigations between Laredo and Brownsville.

Fees range anywhere from $300 to $50,000 per person, depending on where the immigrant is coming from and wants to go, as well as the difficulty of the route, she said. A person traveling from China might have one smuggler take them to Central America, another take them to Mexico, another to take them across the border and another to move them through the United States.

“These are organizations moving people from one country to another to another, so they need a very sophisticated network in order to do that,” Ayala said.

“Most of these alien smuggling organizations are paying passage to a large (drug) cartel, because they have the routes to the U.S.”

Officials uniformly expressed dismay at what Treviño described as the “abrasive and violent” attitude of the coyotes.

“Back in the day, a coyote would take money for helping people across, but they were maybe more of a compañero, more of a surrogate,” Treviño said.

The Mexican government, at both the state and federal level, is in the midst of a public relations campaign to warn Mexican nationals of the growing danger of crossing the border illegally.

Billboards in the United States and Mexico caution against traveling with coyotes, and government-written newspaper columns tell horror stories of immigrants drowning in the Rio Grande or being left to die in the desert heat.

“We share the tragic stories of migrants, so people can talk to relatives and discourage them,” said Miriam Medel, vice consul of the Mexican Consulate in McAllen.

“(The coyotes) are our worst enemy, and we’re always trying to tell people not to trust them.”

In Washington, D.C., where Congress is expected to address immigration reform again next year, the recent worsening of the human smuggling problem has not as yet gained traction as a political issue, said Douglas Rivlin, a spokesman for the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy group.
In fact, despite heightened interest early in this presidential campaign, illegal immigration has fallen off as a talking point for the candidates over the last two months, he said.
“I think (some people are aware) in terms of just some of the press coverage we’ve seen about immigrants being held captive by smugglers, but not in terms of people being aware that we’re in a new era of smuggling,” Rivlin said.
‘Our worst enemy’
‘Abrasive and violent’

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/texas_85554___article.html/police_shoots.html

DENTON, Texas (AP) - An 18-year-old man shot a pastor and his wife as they were getting ready to leave for church services, apparently blaming them for his breakup with his girlfriend, officials said.

Arturo Silva Jr., 18, was being held early Tuesday morning at the Denton County Jail on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Bond was set at $250,000. It was unclear if he had an attorney.

Denton County sheriff’s Lt. Allen Gibson said Silva shot Pedro Beltrain, 32, and his wife, Zaida, 33, as they were getting ready to leave for church with Silva’s former girlfriend. The 27-year-old ex-girlfriend had recently obtained a restraining order against Silva, Gibson said.

The pastor was shot in the arm and his wife in the mouth, Gibson said. Both are in stable condition at a hospital in Dallas.

“He blamed them for the girlfriend’s breakup with him,” Gibson said.

Silva fled before deputies arrived, leaving a .22-caliber pistol on the porch. Deputies also found six spent shells on the ground, Gibson said.

Silva turned himself in Monday.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/border_85587___article.html/agent_doty.html

http://www.enewscourier.com/statenews/local_story_093111653.html

WAYCROSS, Ga. (AP) — A group of children ages 8 to 10 apparently were mad at their teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, authorities say.

That led the third-graders, as many as nine boys and girls, to plot an attack on the teacher at Center Elementary School in south Georgia.

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a glass paperweight, bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her with a broken steak knife.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said. One child’s job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, and another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

“We’re not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher,” Tanner said.

School officials had alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had taken a weapon to school.

Tanner said the teacher told detectives the children weren’t known as troublemakers.

“You can’t dismiss it,” Tanner said. “But because they are kids, they may have thought this was like a cartoon — we do whatever and then she stands up and she’s OK. That’s a hard call.”

The purported target teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

Two of the students were arrested on juvenile charges Tuesday and a third arrest was expected. District Attorney Rick Currie said other students told investigators they didn’t take the plot seriously or insisted they had decided not to participate.

“Some of the kids said, ‘We thought they were just kidding,”’ Currie said. “Another child was supposed to bring a toy pistol, and he told a detective he didn’t bring it because he thought he would get in trouble.”

Currie said the children are too young to be charged as adults, and probably too young to be sentenced to a youth detention center.

“We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely,” Tanner said. “We feel like if they weren’t interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don’t know.”

Currie said he decided to seek juvenile charges against two girls, ages 9 and 10, who brought the knife and paperweight and an 8-year-old boy who brought tape. He said they face charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and both girls are being charged with taking weapons to school.

Nine children have been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension, said Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system. She would not be more specific but said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

School system policy says any student who brings “anything reasonably considered to be a weapon” is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/81230.php

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200803311630/NEWS02/803310389

PORT CHESTER - A Texas man was arraigned today after police said he transported illegal immigrants from Texas, held five of them in a Port Chester apartment and threatened to cut off their fingers with pruning shears if they didn’t ante up more money.

John Ernest Guerrero Jr., 22, of Pearland, a 6-foot 3, 350-pound man, was arrested by seven officers after the captives escaped an attic apartment in which they were being held without food, police said. Police are seeking a second and possibly a third captor.

Two men from Brazil were found on Poningo Street Saturday afternoon, allegedly after escaping from the apartment in 123 Haseco Ave., a triplex Victorian-style building. They alleged they had been held there four or five days after being transported there by two men in a white Chevrolet after they crossed the Mexican border into Texas.

Police said the men -ages 30 and 50 - were uninjured despite not having eaten and having been involved in a fight with their captors that resulted in their escape. The struggle came, police said, after one captor held a small wire cutter to the pinky of one man Saturday and demanded $2,000 more than the $10,000 they had each paid to get into the United States.

Guerrero was charged this morning with first-degree attempted robbery, a felony, police said. He was being held on $100,000 bail and is due back in Port Chester village court Thursday. He had no prior rap sheet, police said. He had absolutely no identification on him, but claims to be a U.S. citizen, they said.

While a total of five men reportedly escaped the apartment; only two have come forward, police said.

“Given our population, it is likely this (imprisoning illegals) happens on occasion, but we don’t hear about it,” Detective Lt. Royal Monroe said.

“If someone is the victim of a crime, we don’t contact anyone (in immigration enforcement). We don’t want anyone to hesitate reporting a crime,” Chief John Krzeminsky said.

Police did call in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigators but said it was only to help find the suspects, not to pursue the victims, who have been placed with family elsewhere in the United States.

Krzeminsky said police hoped the other three alleged victims would come forward to aid in the investigation. He noted that police can help protect victims who are illegal immigrants from being deported if they assist in a criminal case.

The second man police are seeking is a Hispanic man in his early 20s, who is about about 5′ 6 -7″ tall, weighing 175 pounds with a very short buzz cut. He may be wearing two earrings, police said. He fled in a black four-door Toyota suburban utility vehicle that police believe was a rental, they said. Police had a partial description of a possible third man.

Police said this is an ongoing investigation which may result in additional charges against Guerrero.

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to call Port Chester police at 914-939-8419. All calls will be kept confidential.