Two NLV residents among those indicted in immigrant smuggling

Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2001 | 9:48 a.m.

Two North Las Vegas residents were arraigned in federal court Tuesday and will face charges in Arizona in connection with participating in a scheme to smuggle illegal immigrants between Western states.

Gabriela Carter and Angel Ortiz-Maciel were named Monday in a federal indictment that included 32 people allegedly involved in the smuggling ring that apparently operated over five years.

Carter was detained on unrelated charges involving her own immigration status and will be transported by the U.S. Marshal to Tucson, Ariz., where Monday's indictment was unsealed. Ortiz-Maciel was released and will face charges in Tucson.

The two were listed as managers of the North Las Vegas office of Golden State Transportation, a Los Angeles-based bus company with routes to Las Vegas, that allegedly worked with several immigrant smuggling rings to transport immigrants throughout Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The indictment names Golden State personnel, from drivers to California-based vice president Francisco Gonzalez. The alleged conspiracy included buying bus tickets in bulk, traveling by night from Arizona to other states and taking less-traveled routes in an effort to avoid detection by INS agents.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment Monday after a two-year investigation by the INS and FBI.

The smuggling ring transported an estimated 50 to 300 immigrants daily during 2000, according to the indictment.

Ashcroft called the alleged scheme, "the largest immigrant-smuggling case ever brought against a United States transportation company."

Golden State Manager Antonio Arreola said he was unauthorized to comment on the case.

"Everything is normal here," Arreola said. "We are selling tickets, and passengers are pleased with our service."

However, Phoenix-based Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Johns said the federal government has obtained a restraining order preventing the company from transferring assets and will seek forfeiture of the company's assets.

Jorge Alejandre, a driver for Golden State on a round trip from Los Angeles, said he has often seen people buy tickets in bulk at the Tucson bus station.

"You see these guys buying 20 tickets at a time, and you know these are for the illegals," said Alejandre, who has worked eight years for the company.

Alejandre said that drivers suspect illegal immigrants have boarded a bus in the area because he said their appearance often betrays the wear and tear of their trips across the desert from Mexico.

"But what can we do? Our job is to take the tickets, not ask them about their immigration status."

The 42-year-old driver, who himself crossed the border illegally 15 years ago and became a resident under a 1989 amnesty program, said that many of the passengers only pass through Las Vegas en route to Los Angeles.

"They take this route instead of Interstate 10 from Tucson to Los Angeles in order to avoid an INS checkpoint at (Blythe)," Alejandre said.