Hundreds arrested in McCarran sting

Greg Tuttle

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

A three-month crackdown on illegal-alien smugglers in Southern Nevada and Arizona netted thousands of arrests and forced many to change their travel plans, federal officials say.

Since early August, Operation Denial sent dozens of Immigration and Naturalization Service agents to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport to put a choke hold on the human-smuggling trade.

"I do think we were successful," said Marc Sanders, assistant officer in charge of the INS office in Las Vegas.

The effort has been scaled down, and agents brought in from other states have been sent home. But Sander said the agency made a significant impact on the flow of illegal immigrants into the Southwest and provided a valuable glimpse into the workings of smugglers.

The agency will continue to station agents at McCarran in smaller numbers, and the full enforcement operation could be restarted sometime next year, he said.

Sanders said 5,850 arrests are attributed to the operation. At McCarran, agents arrested 712 illegal aliens as they prepared to board flights to several large cities, including Chicago, Atlanta and New York.

Agents arrested 1,490 illegal aliens at Sky Harbor, which is considered a hub for the flow of immigrants from Central and South America, Sanders said.

The operation also successfully targeted safe houses in Phoenix where illegal immigrants hide while waiting for transportation either on commercial flights or in vehicles. More than 1,100 arrests were made at the safe houses during the operation.

While safe houses are fairly common in Phoenix, Las Vegas is a more temporary stop for those moving illegally across the country, Sanders said. There was only one safe house in Las Vegas identified during the operation, which enlisted local law enforcement in the crackdown.

"We're not disappointed at all that we didn't have safe house complaints" in Las Vegas, Sanders said. "I dare to say if they were out there we would have got a call."

Sanders said safe houses are a magnet for criminals who prey on vulnerable victims usually carrying cash. Smugglers also engage in a sometimes deadly game of stealing the human cargo at gunpoint, he said.

The Phoenix Police Department attributes a drop in violent crime in recent months in part on the success of shutting down safe houses used by smugglers, Sanders said. The city has seen a 30 percent decrease in homicides this year when compared to the same period last year.

The greatest success of the operation might be measured by the number of smugglers forced to move people in vehicles instead of through airports, Sanders said. INS and other law enforcement agencies arrested 1,145 illegal aliens traveling on area highways, he said.

Most of those arrested have been deported, but about 60 people identified as smugglers face federal charges and possible prison time, Sanders said.