Human smuggling scheme

[ilbegone]

Rialto man one of five indicted in human smuggling scheme

02/02/2012

LOS ANGELES - A Rialto man is one of five people who have been indicted for operating a human smuggling scheme that relied largely on non-Spanish speaking African-Americans to transport loads of illegal aliens from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Los Angeles area.

Juan Eduardo Baltazar, 35, of Rialto allegedly prepared the smuggling vehicles and outfitted them with hidden compartments to conceal the aliens.

The defendants, including the suspected ringleader of the scheme, Maria "Reyna" Lopez-Diaz, 60, of Compton, were taken into custody Thursday morning by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Border Patrol.

According to investigators, the ring charged aliens anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 to be smuggled from the border to Los Angeles. The aliens were locked inside vehicle trunks or concealed in specially built compartments under the hood or elsewhere. During a one-year period from January 2010 through January 2011, it is estimated the organization was smuggling several dozen aliens a month into the Los Angeles area.

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_19880418

$2,000 to $4,000 to be smuggled from the border

That's one high dollar taxi

[Rim05]

A Rialto man is one of five people who have been indicted for operating a human smuggling scheme that relied largely on non-Spanish speaking African-Americans to transport loads of illegal aliens from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Los Angeles area.

Since Africian-Americans are at the bottom of the hiring list, I guess they take what they can get.