Court documents reveal illegal alien smuggling ring in Alabama
WRITTEN BY CASEY CAPPA
ON AUGUST 27, 2015 AT 12:35 PM CDT
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Court documents in a recent illegal alien case reveal illegal aliens are being transported in smuggling operations through Jefferson County.
On Aug. 5, a four-count indictment charged Julio Alberto Baldares-Garcia, a 23 year old from Honduras, with knowingly transporting illegal immigrants through Jefferson County. Baldares-Garcia and the 10 Hispanic individuals he was transporting were first spotted by an officer at a rest area near the town of Eutaw in Greene County, Alabama.
According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), Baldares-Garcia was transporting the individuals for private financial gain. However, what he was charging may pale in comparison to the maximum penalty for alien smuggling, which is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also recorded details of the Baldares-Garcia arrest and how his transport of the illegal aliens compared to a typical smuggling operation in an affidavit.
According to the statement, aliens wishing to cross the border illegally must typically pay an upfront fee to the smuggling organization before even crossing the international border. After crossing into the U.S., the smuggler takes the aliens to a “stash house” where another fee is usually demanded. Once paid, the smugglers will transport the aliens and pass them off to other smugglers until they have reached their final destination.
According to the affidavit, Baldares-Garcia and the individuals he was transporting were participating in a relatively typical smuggling operation. Baldares-Garcia did not have a valid driver’s license and stated that he and the passengers were not in the United States legally when asked by the officer that saw them exit their vehicle at the rest stop.
Some of the passengers were also questioned, with one man saying he paid $4,500 before he could leave the stash house in Texas. He also stated that on the night before, he and the other illegal aliens had been taken to a McDonald’s parking lot where Baldares-Garcia entered the vehicle and began driving them.
The passengers would have been required to pay another $1,100 upon arrival to their final destination in Virginia.
According to the affidavit, this wasn’t Baldares-Garcia’s first time to transport individuals through Birmingham.
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