HPD finds 30 illegal immigrants in apartment

Houston Chronicle ^ | June 12, 2007 | KEVIN MORAN, SUSAN CARROLL and JIM PINKERTON

[SwinneySwitch]

Immigration and Customs enforcement officials arrested a suspected smuggler from El Salvador today after police found 30 undocumented immigrants in a southwest Houston apartment, authorities said.

The raid resulted from a 6:45 p.m. call Monday from a person who told a 911 operator that a large group of people was in the apartment and they ''were being held against their will,'' Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said today.

Inside the two-bedroom apartment in the 6500 block of Gessner, police found men, women and teenagers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, said Leticia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman.

She said three of the illegal immigrants were treated at a local hospital for ''possible dehydration,''and were scheduled to be removed from the United States along with the remainder of the group.

This afternoon, Zamarripa said she did not have the identity of the suspected smuggler, and did not know if he was armed at the time of the bust.

The man has been charged with smuggling illegal immigrants.

Witnesses at the apartment complex on Gessner said they had watched the scene on Monday night, as ICE officials brought in a bus and processed the immigrants.

A woman from El Salvador, who identified herself only as "Carmen," said she has been living at the brick complex, with tan accents and wrought-iron balconies, for more than a year. She said she returned from the store last night and saw a police car and plain-clothes officer and assumed the bust involved drugs. The woman added that she "felt fear" because she also is undocumented.

"We thought the police were investigating the sale of drugs," she said. "We never imagined there was human trafficking."

"You feel bad for these people because they've come here and you know what they have suffered," she said.

Oscar Moran, 39, was at the complex midday today, visiting his mother-in-law on a tourist visa from El Salvador. He said he saw the ICE bus roll into the parking lot last night, and "when I saw it, what impressed me was all the efforts these people made to come here, and how they were kept here in captivity.''

Other residents of the sprawling apartment complex said they were surpised when police and federal officials showed up in the rear parking area of the complex.

"I never seen nothing like this before," said Marco Vasquez, a mechanic and eight-year Carlingford resident. "It was (a) surprise."

Because no one noticed anything unusual, residents and complex workers said today they didn't think the large group of people had been in the apartment any longer than two nights.

"We had no idea the apartment was being used for that purpose," said one complex employee, who asked not to be identified.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

kevin.moran@chron.com

susan.carroll@chron.com

[SwinneySwitch]

"The woman added that she "felt fear" because she also is undocumented."

Never fear, Presidente Bush is here!

[martin_fierro]

"We had no idea the apartment was being used for that purpose," said one complex employee, who asked not to be identified.

Uh huh.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!

U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121

White House comments: (202) 456-1111

Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

[SwinneySwitch]

Pinkerton Ping!

[SpaceBar]

Jam packing teeny little apartments to the rafters with human cargo that Americans are just too lazy to do.

[Man50D]

The question now is will they be deported?

[since1868]

The first thing that came to mind was the stench from that apt.

[i_dont_chat]

This is my neighborhood.

I know, you wonder why I don’t move. We probably will soon. We’ve owned our house since 1991, and it is on a beautiful street. Our close neighbors are great, mostly Mexicans, homeowners, who are very family oriented. But the handwriting is on the wall.

Saturday morning, I stepped out in my front yard, and the air smelled like tacos. Bummer.

[Man50D]

People should go further than just demanding their politicians oppose S.1348. They should also demand our existing immigration laws be enforced, including deportation.

[Afronaut]

"been living at the brick complex, with tan accents and wrought-iron balconies"

With hazel Chiffon Curtains and a lovely matching sofa and love-seat done up in a wonderful plaid...

[flowerplough]

“Hispanics were gifted in family structure, and you can see a Hispanic person, and they can put 20, 30 people in one home.”

And may Reggie White rest in peace.

[Eaker]

"We had no idea the apartment was being used for that purpose," said one complex employee, who asked not to be identified. Uh huh.

You have that right.

Two and a half decades ago I had an apartment and they knew within thirty minutes that I had bought a puppy and gave me notice while I was waiting on the management office to open on Monday. I bought the puppy on Sunday and had to wait until Monday to pay the pet deposit.

However, thirty people in a little apartment would be hard to notice. [/s]

[VR-21]

"With hazel Chiffon Curtains and a lovely matching sofa and love-seat done up in a wonderful plaid..."

Thanks for the freshly poured scotch & soda nose flush.

[azhenfud]

"She said three of the illegal immigrants were treated at a local hospital for ''possible dehydration,''and were scheduled to be removed from the United States along with the remainder of the group."

This according to ICE spokeswoman.

[Kozak]

Do We Want Mexifornia?

Victor Davis Hanson

Thousands arrive illegally from Mexico into California each year—and the state is now home to fully 40 percent of America’s immigrants, legal and illegal. They come in such numbers because a tacit alliance of Right and Left has created an open-borders policy, aimed at keeping wage labor cheap and social problems ever fresh, so that the ministrations of Chicano studies professors, La Raza activists, and all the other self-appointed defenders of group causes will never be unneeded. The tragedy is that though illegal aliens come here hoping to succeed, most get no preparation for California’s competitive culture. Instead, their activist shepherds herd them into ethnic enclaves, where inexorably they congeal into an underclass. The concept of multiculturalism is the force-multiplier that produces this result: it transforms a stubborn problem of assimilation into a social calamity.

Given hard feelings over recent ballot initiatives that curtailed not only aid to illegals but also affirmative action and bilingual education, unlawful immigration has become the third rail of California politics. Even to discuss the issue can earn politicians the cheap slander of “racist” or “nativist.” Tensions abound even within families. One of my siblings is married to a Mexican-American; another has two stepchildren whose father was an illegal alien from Mexico; I have a prospective son-in-law whose parents crossed the border. Yet we all disagree at different times whether open borders are California’s hope or its bane.

Mexifornia

Read it and weep....

[Man50D]

Thanks for pointing that out. I don’t know how I glossed over that one!

[353FMG]

“Two and a half decades ago I had an apartment and they knew within thirty minutes that I had bought a puppy..”

Was you puppy white?

[azhenfud]

Well I could understand the question, they're scheduled for removal. When they get on the other side of the border and can't return as easily, then I'll also say "Done deal"...

[Eaker]

No, he looked about like this but had golden eyes and a more vividly colored coat. I blame the photog not the pup for this pic's quality.