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 News from Around the Americas | January 2008 
Human Smuggling Organization Unearthed In California
 BYLINE
San Diego, CA - A human smuggling and forced labor organization has been discovered with ties to Los Angeles and Tijuana, Mexico, in an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A Guatemalan woman has pleaded guilty to federal charges that she and her Mexican husband smuggled Mexican nationals into the United States and forced them to work using physical and verbal threats, ICE said in a statement.
Gloria Eugenia Leon-Aldana, 37, pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of bringing in illegal aliens for financial gain and one count of forced labor. She is scheduled to be sentenced April 7.
Her husband Mario Antonio Antunez-Sotelo, 44, - charged with threatening aliens and brandishing a shotgun - is at large.
The couple allegedly threatened and took the identity papers of aliens who were held in two residences in San Diego homes.
"This case underscores ICE's resolve to work with its law enforcement partners to ensure that those who engage in this kind of reprehensible form of exploitation are brought to justice," said Miguel Unzueta, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in San Diego. |
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