Immigrant smugglers target NM border

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | March 14, 2019 | Mike Gallagher

[CedarDave]

From high-end operations catering to Brazilians to overcrowded stash houses in rural New Mexico, organized criminal groups are smuggling immigrants into the U.S. through New Mexico’s southern border using the crush of asylum seekers from Central America and elsewhere as cover.

Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol agents have identified several organized criminal groups that have been smuggling immigrants across the southern border to ultimate destinations in Alabama, New Jersey, Tennessee and elsewhere.

Over the last year, federal agents have arrested human smugglers in the small towns of Hachita in New Mexico’s Bootheel and Dexter south of Roswell as well as Albuquerque and Birmingham, Ala.

On Wednesday, Maximo Gonzalez-Sebastian, one of three men arrested in connection with a stash house in Roswell, was convicted in federal court in Las Cruces on charges of hostage taking and conspiracy. Gonzalez-Sebastian, who had a Guatemalan passport on him when he was arrested, could face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Two of his associates have already pleaded guilty and also await sentencing.

The asylum wave is a boom for smugglers.

“We are making a concentrated effort to investigate and prosecute organizations involved in human trafficking,” U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson said, adding that includes both smugglers and those taking advantage of asylum seekers.

“It is a more diverse immigrant population than we’ve seen in the past,” he said. “New Mexico is primarily a transit point” for people entering the country either illegally or through the asylum process.

Efforts to control the numbers of people arriving at the official ports of entry seeking asylum have led people to “self surrender” to Border Patrol agents at more remote areas of the border like the small port of entry in New Mexico’s Bootheel at Antelope Wells or the deserts outside Deming.

[CedarDave]

The first sentence of the article tells it all:

...organized criminal groups are smuggling immigrants into the U.S. through New Mexico’s southern border using the crush of asylum seekers from Central America and elsewhere as cover.

[CedarDave]

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[mass55th]

Well I hope they enjoy all those new illegals since the Governor pulled the National Guard out.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk.

[upchuck]

Interesting that the ABQ uses the word ‘immigrant’ to describe these folks breaking into our country.

Be honest, ABQ. These people are CRIMINAL ALIENS and should be shot on sight. We must get stronger with our deterrence.

[shanover]

The people of New Mexico must be insane to vote in such political trash that does not hide the fact that they care nothing about the security of the country and its citizens.

[rrrod]

As some of you know that part of the border is very tough and until recently hardly ever used.
Terrain and old superstitions about the feared Yaquis.

[Tammy8]

Actually periodically this area has been a well used smuggling corridor. It has been fairly low traffic for a few years but I have seen several times of major smuggling and what not going on here in the Bootheel over the years, it comes and goes. The main reason it is not always busy is there are no towns of any size on either side of the border- harder to get to a place to blend in, too many miles of open space to get caught between the border and I-10.

This area always picks up when the border is secured or enforcement is concentrated on the border East and West of us. Southern AZ has done a pretty good job, the sheriff and Border Patrol work together pretty hard through Cochise County. East of here there is concentration of CBP and new Border fence between here and El Paso. That funnels the cartel activity through here where we have a barb wire cattle fence for most of the border in the Bootheel.

[wjcsux]

You would be absolutely stunned on how rampant, flagrant and widespread voter fraud is here. New Mexico would make a fantastic 3rd world banana republic if we could grow bananas here.