Posted on 12/07/2004 10:24:44 PM PST by weegee
Describing their experiences with a smuggling ring authorities say is responsible for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants, two Honduran women said they were shuttled back and forth between cramped houses, where they sometimes waited for days.
Doris Sulema Argueta and her sister-in-law, Maria Leticia Lara-Castro, testified today how the ring hid them in small rooms, mobile homes and houses, sometimes 60 to 80 people in one location.
Prosecutors contend the ring eventually packed the two women and more than 70 other illegal immigrants inside an airless truck trailer that traveled from South Texas to Houston in May 2003.
The trailer was abandoned at a truck stop near Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston. Authorities found 17 immigrants dead inside the trailer. Two died later.
Lara-Castro, testifying at the trial of three people who authorities say are members of the smuggling ring, told jurors that although the group didn't initially mistreat them, "they put us in a trailer without any air or water. We were expecting the trailer to have air."
The three on trial, Victor Jesus Rodriguez, Claudia Carrizales de Villa and Fredy Giovanni Garcia-Tobar, each faces 58 counts of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants. If convicted, each could get up to life in prison. Defense attorneys have said their clients had minimal involvement.
Argueta said she traveled to the United States by bus from Honduras with Lara-Castro and two female friends. She paid $1,500 of her smuggling fees up front, with the remaining $1,500 to be settled in the United States.
Once at the border, Argueta said the women contacted Rodriguez's father, who sent a guide that helped them cross the Rio Grande on inner tubes.
They then walked for six to eight hours through a desert area before they were picked up by Rodriguez, Argueta said.
The women were taken to a "stash house" near the home of Rodriguez's father, who they referred to as "Don Victor."
"Don Victor said to call our relatives so they could send him the remaining money," Argueta said.
After staying near Don Victor's house for two days, the women were moved by Rodriguez to different stash houses, including one with nearly 80 illegal immigrants inside, before they were taken to an isolated area and loaded into the trailer, Lara-Castro said.
About 45 minutes into the trip, the immigrants began getting hot and it soon became unbearable, she said. Authorities estimate temperatures inside the trailer reached 173 degrees.
"We shouted so much but nobody opened the doors," said Lara-Castro, who told jurors she had to crawl over four dead bodies when they were finally let out.
Argueta, 33, who now lives in New York, and Lara-Castro, 33, who now lives in Miami, told jurors they were given temporary work permits to stay in the country during the various trials in the case.
"You've received one heck of a benefit by cooperating with the government," said Rodriguez's attorney, Alberto Pullen.
Argueta denied getting any benefits for her testimony.
The women said they didn't know Carrizales or Garcia-Tobar.
Carrizales, 36, from Mexico, is accused of concealing immigrants in her apartment and feeding them at a restaurant owned by the smuggling ringleader, Karla Patricia Chavez, who pleaded guilty in June.
Garcia-Tobar, a 25-year-old from Guatemala, is accused of helping load illegal immigrants into trailers or transport them to loading sites and of helping recruit truckers to haul them.
Tyrone Williams, from Schenectady, N.Y., is the only one of 14 defendants indicted in the case who could face the death penalty if convicted. Authorities say he drove and abandoned the trailer. His trial is set to begin Jan. 5.
The trial of another defendant is on hold. Five others previously pleaded guilty. Four were arrested in Mexico and face trial there, including Rodriguez's parents.
HOUSTON PING
ping
Smarmy sonofagun. I know he's doing his job, but that's just nuts.
Mrs. HJ helped convict a stash house operator last month, and boy did it feel good, she said.
Where were the PETA people when all of this was going on? Those illegal immigrants were wrong, but you don't treat human beings like that.
I've seen the Mexican government pushing for better treatment of illegal immigrants in America, especially those who are smuggled in.
If they would focus their investigations on the coyotes smuggling human cargo (and often killing some in the process), they could tackle the real human rights violations. Instead they support the corruption and point the finger of blame at Uncle Sam. They are drawn here like moths to a flame.
When one commits crimes and associates with criminals, bad things can be expected.
Some of these illegals pay the ultimate price for trying to get into the US. I hope those responsible for the deaths get what they deserve.
Bayourod country!
It happens.
They should have stayed in Mexico.
Where did the air go?
Must be the only trailer in North America that doesn't have leaks.
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