Alleged smuggling ring raided

Federal authorities said Thursday they had dismantled a smuggling ring that brought hundreds of undocumented immigrants each month into Southern California, using private homes as “drop houses” and a 99-cent store as a staging ground.

Authorities estimate the ringleaders may have grossed $6 million to $18 million annually transporting about 5,000 undocumented immigrants after they illegally crossed the border into Arizona. Immigration officials said it was one of the largest human-smuggling operations uncovered on the West Coast in recent years.

“This is a criminal organization that is driven by greed,” said Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. “They see an opportunity, with the borders shored up a little bit, for them to make money.”

The agency’s three-year investigation began in May 2005, when Los Angeles police discovered more than 140 illegal immigrants in two locked drop houses in South Los Angeles. Authorities arrested two men -- both illegal immigrants who said they were paying off their own smuggling debts -- who authorities said were guarding the others until family members came up with the payments.

On Wednesday, ICE agents executed several search warrants and arrested three people allegedly involved in the smuggling organization, including one of the ringleaders. Three others were previously arrested and seven more are at large.

The “Francisco” organization was allegedly run by three Guatemalans named Francisco. Immigration agents arrested Francisco Andres Pedro, 35, Wednesday and caught Francisco Andres Francisco, 39, last month in Pennsylvania. Agents are still seeking a third suspected ringleader, Francisco Pedro-Francisco, 29. They all face federal criminal charges of transporting and harboring illegal immigrants.

In the course of the investigation, ICE agents also arrested more than 800 immigrants who had been smuggled, most from Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico and El Salvador.

Authorities said that in recent cases, they had been able to track down the heads of rings rather than just arresting the illegal immigrants they transport. But the challenge is gathering enough evidence for a successful prosecution.

In searches at the 99-cent store in Los Angeles and at several homes, authorities seized evidence including bank records and other documents. The investigation is ongoing.

The smuggling ring allegedly picked up immigrants who had crossed the border in Arizona, held them in drop houses in Los Angeles and Lancaster and then drove them in vans and SUVs to several states, including New Jersey, Tennessee and Illinois. They were able to hide their movements by using homes with covered garages and by using the 99-cent store parking lot on South Main Street, authorities said.

Even as illegal immigrants migrate across the country, authorities said, Los Angeles remains a final destination for many and a hub for smuggling rings.

“With our close proximity to the border, the established community that we have here and the size of this city, this will continue to be a hub for a long time,” Silliman said.

Silliman said this case also showed that the smuggling organizations are now dividing their duties. For example, one cell may lead migrants across the border while another transports them within the country. The migrants each paid between $1,200 and $3,700 for their transportation in the U.S. and paid several more thousand to get into the country.

Whatever the roles, the smugglers are callous about the well-being of the migrants, Silliman said. In this case, several immigrants were seriously injured last year when the van transporting them crashed. And at one of the Los Angeles drop houses, 88 immigrants were being held in very hot rooms without sufficient water, authorities said.

Immigrant rights activists say the crackdown at the border and the increase in Border Patrol agents have only resulted in more expensive and perilous journeys run by sophisticated smuggling rings.

But nevertheless, migrants are willing to put their lives at risk to escape the poverty in their home countries, to seek work in the United States and to reunite with family members, said Angela Sanbrano, president of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities.

This case is another example of why Congress needs to change the way the country allows in immigrants from Latin America, she said.

“If it wasn’t for the broken immigration system,” she said, “these family members would be joining their families in a safe and humane manner.”

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anna.gorman@latimes.com