Drivers in immigrant trafficking ring face deportation
By the Associated Press
11:24 a.m. - FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Four drivers for an immigrant trafficking ring face possible deportation for their roles in a cross-country network linking illegal workers with Asian restaurants.
A federal judge here sentenced five drivers after they pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to shuttling illegal immigrants for Shan Wei Yu's Great Texas Employment Agency. Most of their sentences will be met through time they have already served.
All of the men lived in Texas or had ties to the state. One of them is a legalized U.S. citizen. The others face deportation hearings to determine if they will be sent home to China.
Yu, 51, of McKinney, Texas, and his business were convicted last week of bringing illegal immigrants to work at restaurants throughout North Dakota, and also money laundering.
Authorities say Yu used Chinese-language ads to offer restaurants cheap labor from Mexico, South America and Central America.
They say he also placed advertisements to hire long-distance drivers to shuttle workers from Texas to restaurants nationwide. He hired drivers to deliver at least 40 illegal immigrants to Asian restaurants in North Dakota during a 15-month stretch, authorities said.
Yu's sentencing is set for Dec. 9. He faces up to 10 years in prison. His girlfriend, Ya Cao, was arraigned last week on similar charges. A court date for Cao has not been set.
Interesting, on the transporting of illegals.
All you need to do, is learn 10 or 15 languages and you will be in business.
I have often wondered what was in the cars, (hidden) that people want to hire a driver to drive from one town to the next.
Or the ads to share driving on a trip.
One of my daughter's friends was into transporting cars, from Tucson to Los Angeles.
She always stopped to visit me and I didn't quite know why.
I walked out with her and saw that she had a station wagon with very large and ugly boulders in it, she said for her
mothers rock garden.
I talked to the Deputies about it, they asked that I notify them when she showed up again, as that was the perfect decoy car for a load of narcotics.
Due to a heavy load, making it ride low in the back, the Police would stop her, and while checking her out, the real load of dope, would go right on by.
Jackie even took her 2 year old daughter on these trips.
I never saw her after that trip, good chance they got her the next month when she came through.