John Allen Muhammad may have had ties to human smuggling

A picture is emerging of accused sniper John Allen Muhammad as a suspected human smuggler, which could explain how he paired up with illegal immigrant Lee Boyd Malvo, 17. In April 2001, Muhammad, formerly of Tacoma, was detained by immigration inspectors at the Miami International Airport. They suspected him of trying to smuggle two undocumented Jamaican women into the country, a U.S. government official said yesterday.

And a month earlier, on March 11, 2001, Muhammad was stopped in the airport in St. John's, Antigua, holding a Washington driver's license using the name of Russel Dwight and listing a nonexistent Tacoma address. He was trying to board a plane to Los Angeles via Miami.

An Antiguan immigration official, Ena Thomas, told The Seattle Times yesterday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will begin investigating Muhammad for ties to a smuggling and fake-documents operation.

On April 14, 2001, immigration inspectors at the Miami airport stopped Muhammad because they thought he was using false documents. Inspectors also thought Muhammad was trying to help two Jamaican women enter the country with fake documents.

Muhammad and the women were detained. INS officials concluded that Muhammad, 41, born John Allen Williams in New Orleans, was a U.S. citizen and allowed him in. The women were deported.

Though Muhammad was allowed to leave the Miami airport, the U.S. official said, INS investigators pursued a criminal case against him and referred it to the U.S. Attorney's Office, but a federal prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to pursue it.

While in Antigua, Muhammad had lived with his three children, two girls and a boy, in St. John's, the island's capital. Malvo apparently was already known to Muhammad, who introduced the boy as his son, neighbors said.

Though he didn't have a job, Muhammad managed to send his three children to one of the island's few private schools. He apparently also made a positive impression there. Greensville Primary School Principal Janet Harris helped him obtain an Antigua passport.

"She said he was known personally to her for one year, six months, and that to the best of her knowledge all the facts in his application were correct," immigration official Thomas said.

Police think Muhammad may have turned to smuggling and falsifying documents to earn money. When he was stopped at the St. John's airport with the fake Washington driver's license, police questioned him and he then gave his name as John Edwards from Austin, Texas.

According to Antigua Police Detective Fitzroy Anthony, Muhammad wouldn't explain why he was carrying someone else's documents.

At the time, Muhammad was living on the island after having abducted his three children by his second wife, Mildred, who was frantically searching for them.

Muhammad slipped out of the St. John's police station without officers realizing it. Police searched neighboring streets but never found him, said Truehart Smith, police commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda.

Police believe Muhammad was planning to check into a flight but pass the ticket and documentation to another person so that person could travel illegally to the United States.

That wasn't the only instance Muhammad had fake documents. He received an Antiguan passport by using two fake documents: his own forged birth certificate and an Antigua and Barbuda-issued birth certificate for a woman he claimed was his mother, Antiguan authorities said.

On Monday, immigration officials plan to search for any record of Malvo's obtaining a passport in Antigua. So far, they have been unable to find any record of his arrival on the island.

"We can't find anything on the other guy, the 17-year-old, nothing at all," said Antigua's chief immigration officer, Lt. Col. Clyde Walker. "That means he might have come in under some other name."

After investigating the April 2001 incident in Miami, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, hoping to prosecute Muhammad for alien smuggling or document fraud. But no charges were filed because immigration officials did not have enough evidence, the official said.

Muhammad's brief stop in Miami last year came as he made his way back from Antigua, where he apparently met Malvo.

Two months after the airport incident, Malvo entered the United States with his mother, Una James, arriving south of Miami aboard a cargo ship with other undocumented immigrants.

June 7, 2002How the INS invited robbery

Diana West

Where were you last weekend between the hours of 1 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday? That's when police in Tacoma, Washington, believe somebody broke into the local inspection office of the Immigration and Naturalization Services and made off with a choice collection of INS ink stamps, all of which, with a well-aimed thud, can officially and talismanically grant access to the United States.
      Vanished are: a 90-day-admission stamp that validates foreign passports; a "parolee" stamp for refugees; two different stamps that allow foreign sailors ashore to shop; and an "I-551" stamp that marks the visas of those awaiting permanent-residency cards. Also pinched in the weekend burglary were a slew of INS forms, an INS badge, a .40-caliber Beretta handgun, two clips of ammunition and a laptop computer.
      A nerve-wracking haul, in these times, to say the least ? unless, of course, you happen to work for the INS. With a determinedly chipper clairvoyance, these real-life Keystone Kops ? sans laughs ? have decided the burglary has absolutely no connection to terrorism. "We're concerned that someone broke in," INS spokesman Garrison Courtney told the Seattle Times. "But we're not overly concerned they took the stamps or the badge. That's OK to us. I know the public is concerned that they could be used to make fraudulent stamps, but we're prepared for that."
      That's OK and we're prepared? Pardon me for withholding audible sighs of relief, but this is the INS ? butt of Islamist terrorists and late-night comics everywhere ? not the Boy Scouts. Frankly, the agency should be a little "overly concerned." But no. "We've got them flagged," Mr. Courtney continued, just brimming with comic-book bravado as he argued the worthlessness of the booty. "We'll know right away that they're stolen."
      Each stamp, it seems, has its own number, and, in the event of loss or theft, INS agents are notified a number has become invalid. So now, in addition to keeping an eye on the big picture ? you know, identifying terrorists passing into the country ? already over-stretched immigration agents have to check the fine print, literally, on their papers.
      But even if the INS isn't fooled, others easily could be. "These stamps, when placed on a passport, any passport, or any other INS documents, are get-home-free cards when stopped by local police," Ben Ferro, a retired INS district director with a tighter grip on reality, explained to Tacoma's News Tribune. "These are stamps that authenticate someone's documents. In light of September 11, the agency should be turning things upside down looking for these stamps." But it doesn't seem to want to break a sweat. "If they're going to send in this stuff, we're going to catch it," Mr. Courtney told the newspaper. "We're everywhere."
      Tell that to the New York City cops who, as the New York Post reported last week, had to free an overloaded vanful of Middle Eastern men holding "a variety of paperwork" (including a fake government card from Times Square and a phony passport) because the INS didn't seem to have a soul on duty over Memorial Day weekend. The agency contact number rang an INS office in Vermont, more than 300 miles away. As one angry policeman put it, "What's the point of stopping vans and risking your life when the one agency with power blows you off? And this is after September 11." And what did the INS have to say in response? "Since September 11, our primary focus has been on terrorist-related investigations, and, contrary to belief, we are not in the business of detaining people without cause. These men posed no terrorist threat or, for that matter, any threat to the community."
      Sweeping, aren't they? Snippy, too. You might wonder how the INS knew there was no terrorist threat if its agents never showed up. Probably the same way it figured the theft of the visa stamps was no big deal. (And what ever happened to policing good, old-fashioned immigration violations, anyway?) Such high-handed bumbling may be outrageous, but it is also commonplace. Agency overhaul, anyone? Thank goodness the Justice Department has decided to pitch in, having called on anti-terrorism teams of federal, state and local officers formed since September 11 to assist the INS in registering and fingerprinting Muslim and Middle Eastern visa holders. Professional Arabists and civil libertarians are squawking, but as Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican has noted, "Al Qaeda is not an equal-opportunity employer."
      By reactivating a law unofficially abandoned due to sheer visa volume and INS budget cuts in the 1980s, and applying it to visitors from countries that "pose the highest risk to our security," the government is finally taking a serious step to head off the terror networks that threaten us. In so doing, it will help the INS help itself ? and the nation it serves.

Diana West is an editorial writer and columnist for The Washington Times.

Al Gore: A "Reinventor" Par Excellence

Sept. 27, 2000

The claim that Al Gore invented the internet has been a favorite target of political jokes, but Al Gore's role in "reinventing" the INS is no laughing matter. He was a driving force behind the perversion of Immigration and Naturalization Service procedures in order to "invent" a million votes for Clinton-Gore in November 1996.
Al Gore was the Administration's point man in charge of the plan developed in early 1996 to put a million aliens on the fast track to citizenship even if they didn't qualify and even if they had criminal records. Gore was responsible for keeping the pressure on INS to make sure the aliens were naturalized by September 1, the last day to register for the presidential election.

INS Administrator Doris Meissner was at first reluctant to go along with these shenanigans. But she finally acquiesced in Gore's plan to remove alleged "bureaucratic roadblocks" to speedy naturalization.

The "smoking gun" documentation came to light sort of as an aside in the new book "Sellout" by David P. Schippers, his own story as chief investigative counsel for the House impeachment of Bill Clinton. Before Schippers was ordered to limit his investigations to the Monica case, he had focused on the politicization of the INS.

Schippers uncovered a memo written early in 1996 from Doug Farbrother of the National Performance Review (NPR) to Bill Clinton reminding the President that he had "asked us to expedite the naturalization of nearly a million legal aliens." Farbrother set forth the plan "to force some serious `reinvention' on INS" by "appointing one of our proven NPR reinventors as Deputy INS Commissioner" and moving the existing Deputy elsewhere.

The National Performance Review is now called Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government, according to its website www.npr.gov. This confirms Gore's peculiar obsession with reinventing things.

Dr. Elaine Kamarck in Gore's office responded to Farbrother on March 21, 1996 in a solid-cap memo: "THE PRESIDENT IS SICK OF THIS AND WANTS ACTION. IF NOTHING MOVES TODAY WE'LL HAVE TO TAKE SOME PRETTY DRASTIC MEASURES."

A March 22 memo to Al Gore from Doug Farbrother then reported that he told INS "to waive stupid rules, move money from one account to another as needed, and recruit and hire people locally instead of through the slow centralized process." Farbrother added that each city manager in the major cities was to be given "a project budget to spend as needed."

Farbrother's memo spelled out other details of the plan to circumvent customary procedure: "delegate hiring authority, waive extensive background investigations on new employees, allow the cities `overhire authority.'" This carried out the suggestion originally made in a February 15 memo from HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros to Clinton and Gore suggesting the use of "volunteers" from Hispanic action groups to "process" naturalization applications.

In a subsequent fax, Farbrother wrote that he had instructed INS Commissioner Doris Meissner to "get the results the Vice President wants."

In a memo addressed to Al Gore on March 28, Farbrother restated the goal to "produce a million new citizens before election day." The game plan was to "blast INS headquarters loose from their grip on the frontline managers" and to "make Doris Meissner delegate broad authority to her field managers" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Miami.

A March 29 memo from Farbrother to Elaine Kamarck revealed his concern lest this plan be exposed as "a citizenship/Clinton voter mill."

This ingenious 1996 "voter mill" paid off big time. An audit by the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick uncovered some of the results.

The newly naturalized citizens who were qualified to vote by this Gore project included more than 75,000 who had arrest records when they applied, an additional 115,000 citizens whose fingerprints were unclassifiable for various technical reasons and were never rechecked, and another 61,000 people who were given citizenship without submitting any fingerprints at all.

Federal law requires that an alien's application for citizenship must be accompanied by a complete set of fingerprints, which must be cleared by the FBI to determine if the applicant has a criminal record.

Schippers sent the FBI a list of 100 of these new citizens who had committed documented heinous crimes prior to naturalization and discovered that 20 percent were arrested for serious crimes after citizenship was granted in 1996. No one knows how many thousands of criminals were granted citizenship whose fingerprints were never checked at all.

Schippers uncovered some of the additional ways that alien applications were processed. INS agents were directed to relax the testing for English, to complete every interview within 20 minutes, and to ensure that all applicants passed the Civics test by continuing to ask questions until they got a sufficient number right, sometimes asking 25 questions to get four or five correct answers.

Crooked politicians have always stuffed the ballot box in traditional ways, but Al Gore must be given credit for one of the most ingenious. Is the same plan in the works for this year's election?

INS ANNOUNCES INDICTMENTS IN HUMAN SMUGGLING RING

This week Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that authorities have broken up what is possibly the largest immigrant smuggling ring ever involving a commercial enterprise. Thirty-two people have been indicted, including officers and employees of Golden State Transportation, the Los Angeles based bus company at the heart of the ring. According to the indictment, the bus company conspired with smugglers to move between 50 and 300 undocumented immigrants from border cities to locations in the interior of the US.

The indictments are the result of a two-year investigation called Operation Great Basin. Officials say that Golden State routinely sold large blocks of tickets to smugglers, and would rearrange bus schedules and routes to avoid detection. One reason the investigation was so effective was that in addition to the entry of smuggled migrants into the US, it also focused on the ways in which they were transported into the interior of the country.

Golden State is 51 percent owned by Sistema Internacional de Transporte de Autobuses Inc., a subsidiary of Greyhound Lines Inc. Greyhound says it was unaware of any illegal activities, and will fully cooperate with investigators.

27 June 2001

INS Reports on Largest Anti-Smuggling Crackdown in the Americas
Seventy-five arrested, nearly 8,000 migrants interdicted

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) says 75 smugglers and document forgers have been arrested, and nearly 8,000 illegal migrants destined for the United States and Canada intercepted in what the agency calls the "largest multinational anti-smuggling operation ever conducted in the Western Hemisphere."

At a June 27 press conference, INS Acting Commissioner Kevin Rooney described "Operation Crossroads International," conducted out of INS regional headquarters in Mexico City from June 4-20, as a joint effort of the INS working with law enforcement officers from Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. The operation was designed to stop smugglers engaged in human trafficking, and to intercept undocumented migrants headed for the United States through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Rooney said the multinational team effort "didn't just step up to the plate, but truly, truly hit a home run" in its success at stopping the smuggling of undocumented migrants. But he emphasized that neither the INS nor its international partners were satisfied "with merely disrupting smuggling operations," adding: "We want to dismantle them, and we're all committed to that."

Rooney said the success of the operation sends a message to smugglers that "there is no safe haven for those who seek to profit in human misery and desperation." He said the operation provides important lessons about the global multi-billion-dollar migrant smuggling industry.

Smuggling operations are becoming "increasingly sophisticated, and [migrant trafficking] is often intertwined with other criminal activities," Rooney said. For example, during this particular operation, authorities seized more than 120 kilograms of cocaine, about five kilograms of heroin, and about 65 kilograms of marijuana, which he said would have had a street value in the United States of $9 million. Among those also arrested in the operation were seven U.S. citizens, charged with immigration law violations. The INS said 5,500 of the nearly 8,000 illegal migrants who were interdicted have been returned to their home countries. Migrants of Honduran nationality were the largest group intercepted in the operation, numbering 2,531, followed by 2,183 Salvadorans and 1,962 Guatemalans.

The operation also underscores the "callous disregard smugglers have for the safety and well-being of their human cargo," said Rooney. "Migrants who are interdicted tell numerous tales of beatings, rape, and even death that occurred during their failed attempts to reach the United States. This just points out the dangers these people face [en route to the United States]."

Moreover, the anti-smuggling operation "clearly demonstrates how our INS overseas deterrence strategy works," said INS Mexico District Director Hipolito Acosta. "Simultaneous, coordinated efforts between the United States and other countries are key to attacking this growing global problem."

Both INS officials said the operation proved very cost-effective for the United States. Acosta said the total cost for the INS was $600,000, as opposed to nearly $30 million in potential costs if the undocumented migrants had been taken into custody in the United States and subjected to the entire deportation process. Deportation proceedings are complex and time-consuming and cost the U.S. government at least $4,000 per undocumented migrant, Acosta said.

National police agencies and immigration officials from the participating countries led the operation, while INS officers provided technical assistance and support in detecting fraudulent documents at hotels, safe houses, airports, and highway checkpoints in the host countries, Acosta explained.

The INS also announced a second multinational effort against alien smuggling in Europe and Asia called "Operation Firm Grip," which resulted in the interception of 415 aliens from 37 nations, and 45 individuals who were identified or intercepted while trying to smuggle aliens into the United States and other Western nations. The three-week operation, running from May 29 to June 18, targeted alien smugglers from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Singapore. Some 98 undocumented workers from Sri Lanka formed the largest group of migrants intercepted in this operation, followed by 61 migrants from China, and 59 from India.

The INS said both initiatives announced at the news conference were part of an ongoing series of operations the agency launched about five years ago to combat the increasing global problem of migrant smuggling.

Embassy of the United States of America
Kingston, Jamaica

Media Release
January 23, 2002

FUGITIVE WANTED IN 1988 U.S. POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING CAPTURED IN JAMAICA

Director Ben Reyna of the United States Marshals Service has announced the capture today of fugitive Wayne Anthony Davis, who was wanted for the 1988 shooting of a U.S. police officer in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The shooting had been profiled on local television and on the "America's Most Wanted" program. A tip from a viewer, who had seen the profile on "America's Most Wanted," led authorities to the remote hills of Jamaica, where he was apprehended at 3:00 a.m. by U.S. Marshals and the Jamaican Fugitive Apprehension Team (JFAT).

Wayne Anthony Davis had been a fugitive for over 12 years after being identified as the shooter in the incident in which Price George's County Police Officer Howard L. Norris III, was shot three times. During a routine traffic stop, Officer Norris was wounded in the arm, leg, and back by bullets fired by a male, identified as Davis, who was a passenger in the vehicle. Officer Norris, who was a five-year police veteran at the time of the incident, later recovered from his injuries. However, he was forced to retire because of damage to his right arm.

Davis disappeared after the shooting and Prince George's County Detective George Swope had been investigating the case since the incident occurred. Detectives Chris Brophy and Mike Butler later joined the cold case search for Davis.

Detective Brophy said, "Swope never gave up on the case. Over the years we had gotten some good leads, but for one reason or another, things didn't pan out. It was a stroke of luck that a television viewer saw the profile on Davis and finally produced the tip we needed."

After receiving information from the caller that placed Davis in Jamaica, Prince George's County police contacted the U.S. Marshals, who had been on the case since February 2001, to request assistance in tracking him there. The JFAT, a task force including officers from the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF), joined the search. They developed information which led them to a remote site in the hills where an individual, identified as Wayne Anthony Davis, also known as "Bryan Thomas" and "Prince" was staying. After coordinating with appropriate Jamaican authorities, Deputy U.S. Marshals Robert Alexander and Tony Schilling, and Prince George's County Detective Chris Brophy, along with other JFAT team members, apprehended Davis. After capture, Davis confessed in detail to the shooting.

Detective Brophy praised the assistance they received from the JFAT in Jamaica. He said, "We are grateful to the JFAT, and especially to Deputy Marshals Alexander and Schilling, for all their work in helping us to, finally, get this guy. We couldn't have done it without them."

Director Reyna said, "Davis' capture is an excellent example of a cooperative law enforcement effort. When agencies work together like they did in this case, we are able to take more criminals off our streets. I am proud of all their fine work."

Kingston, February 2, 2001

RETURN OF SEAN CROSDALE TO JAMAICA

A Jamaican suspected of committing a murder and then fleeing to the United States has been returned to the island through the cooperation of the JCF and U.S. law enforcement officials.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy reported Friday that 29-year-old Sean George Crosdale, o/c "Hawk," was returned from the United States on January 23, 2001, in connection with the murder of Kevin Stephenson, o/c "Milkman," age 20, which occurred in Bull Bay, St. Thomas, on August 21, 1994. Stephenson was allegedly shot and killed by Crosdale because he wanted to obtain an illegal handgun in Stephenson's possession.

It is believed that Crosdale fled Jamaica immediately after the slaying. Records showed that he had been arrested in Baltimore, Maryland, on drug charges in 1997, but had subsequently been released. The Jamaican Fugitive Apprehension Team (JFAT) pursued its search for Crosdale with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service in the United States, and during a raid by U.S. law enforcement personnel in San Diego, California, on June 7, 2000, Crosdale was arrested, giving the alias name of "Mike Shawn Miller." Recovered during the raid were ten (10) pounds of marijuana, a shotgun, and five hundred and sixty (560) rounds of 7.62 calibre ammunition.

Following legal hearings in the U.S., Crosdale was flown from California to Kingston on January 23, where he was taken into custody by members of JFAT upon his arrival.

U.S. Ambassador Stan McLelland hailed the action as an outstanding example of the bilateral cooperation that exists between the United States and Jamaica in the field of fugitive apprehension. "I wish to congratulate both members of the Jamaican Fugitive Apprehension Team and U.S. law enforcement officials, particularly the U.S. Marshals Service, for their alertness and their determination to locate this fugitive, who is wanted in Jamaica for a serious crime," the Ambassador said.

"Thanks to the invaluable information and assistance provided by the dedicated Jamaican team, the alleged perpetrator will be brought before the Jamaican courts, and justice will take its course," the Ambassador added.

Media Release
March 1, 2002

The 2002 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INSCR)

Jamaica Summary

Jamaica

I. Summary

Jamaica is a major transit point for South American cocaine en route to the U.S. as well as the largest Caribbean producer and exporter of marijuana. During 2001, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) continued to make progress toward meeting the goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

During 2001, the GOJ took several steps to strengthen its counternarcotics law enforcement and interdiction capability. The GOJ undertook to establish a special investigative unit to target significant drug traffickers, increased the staff of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Narcotics Division, and provided resources to enhance security at its ports. The GOJ continued its marijuana eradication program, although the amount eradicated fell short of the goal the U.S. and GOJ had set for 2001. Law enforcement operations resulted in a number of large cocaine and marijuana seizures during the year. The GOJ brought into force an Anti-Corruption Act and ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. In addition, three drug courts were established in 2001. The U.S. and GOJ signed a reciprocal agreement that provides for the sharing of assets derived from crime, and the GOJ’s Fugitive Apprehension Team, with the assistance of U.S. Marshals, worked vigorously to apprehend fugitives for eventual extradition to the U.S.

Nevertheless, the GOJ needs to undertake more intensive law enforcement action to disrupt the trafficking of large amounts of cocaine in Jamaican territory and territorial waters. Such actions include arresting and prosecuting significant drug traffickers operating in Jamaica, dismantling groups that conduct the drug trade, and increasing drug seizures and eradication. Although Jamaican forces participated in combined operations under the Jamaica-U.S. bilateral maritime agreement during the year, the GOJ could take better advantage of the agreement in order to reduce the drug flow. U.S. agencies note that counternarcotics cooperation with their GOJ counterparts is generally good but could be improved. The U.S. will continue to provide equipment, technical assistance, and training to assist the GOJ to strengthen its counternarcotics capabilities.

The GOJ has in place a National Drug Control Strategy that covers both supply and demand reduction, and is preparing its third National Master Drug Prevention and Control Plan (2002-2007). Jamaica is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

II. Status of Country

Jamaica is a major transit country for cocaine destined for the U.S. and other markets, and the leading producer and exporter of marijuana in the Caribbean. Jamaica is not a source of precursor or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics, but there is concern over the vulnerability of Jamaican ports to illegal diversion of such chemicals. Illicitly obtained isopropyl alcohol has been used to extract hashish oil. Jamaica is not a significant regional financial center, tax haven, or offshore banking center, but some money laundering does occur, most likely through the purchase of assets, such as houses or cars, rather than financial instruments.

http://usembassy.state.gov/kingston/wwwhfincsr.html

Child smuggling ring broken, INS says
August 12, 2002 Posted: 4:25 PM EDT (2025 GMT)

From Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The largest child-smuggling ring ever seen by immigration officials managed to funnel several hundred children, ranging from infants to teens, into the United States from Central America before the operation was smashed, officials said Monday.

The smugglers received an average of $5,000 per child to move the children from El Salvador and Honduras through Guatemala and Mexico, and into Southern California, officials said. Once they reached the Los Angeles area, the children were distributed to waiting families -- often their parents, who had previously entered the U.S. illegally.

Officials described the smugglers as clever and cruel.

"These people specialized in smuggling children. The children's ages ranged from just a few months old up to 17 years old," said Johnny Williams, the Immigration and Naturalization Service's associate commissioner for field operations. "Mere teenagers were assigned to care for the little ones."

Williams said the fate of the children and their families in the United States will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Twelve alleged smugglers are now in the hands of authorities in El Salvador and the United States -- seven in El Salvador and five in the United States.

The woman officials accuse of being the ringleader, Berta Campos of San Salvador, is being held in Los Angeles and is expected to be moved to Washington in the next few days to stand trial. Campos will join Guillermo Antonio Paniagua, whom U.S. marshals have already moved from Los Angeles to Washington for prosecution.

The three other people in U.S. custody were flown late Friday from Guatemala to Houston, where they are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for hearing on being moved to Washington.

Federal prosecutors in the nation's capital say the five accused smugglers were indicted by grand juries in Washington earlier this summer and if convicted, could face sentences up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Williams declined to disclose details of the smuggling operation because the investigation is continuing.

"These people really knew what they were doing," said another official, who asked not to be named. "Their moves were very carefully planned. They didn't just try to slip across the border at random."

The officials said the children were moved in small buses to Tijuana, then often driven across the U.S. border in small numbers. Many but not all went through ports of entry and were undetected.

"There's a lot of money in this for smugglers, and there are no doubt others out there," the official said. "There can be more money in smuggling human cargo than drugs, and the sentences are lighter."

Child prostitution widespread in Jamaica
Study shows even 10 year-olds involved

Sunday, July 21, 2002

Children, some as young as 10 and 11 years old, are engaged in prostitution like these ladies above and left. (Observer library photos)AN International Labour Organisation (ILO) study on the worst forms of child labour in Jamaica has unearthed a disturbing practice of widespread prostitution by children, some as young as 10 years old, in six of the island's 14 parishes.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20020720t230000-0500_29195_obs_child_prostitution_widespread_in_jamaica.asp

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