13 motel owners charged with housing illegals
13 motel owners charged with housing illegals
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 11, 2005
Federal authorities have accused 13 Arizona motel owners of harboring illegal aliens brought by smugglers into the United States and will seek to seize their businesses as part of a nationwide investigation into a network of hotels and motels being used as “stash houses.”
….Twelve of those named in the indictments have been arrested, said Mr. Boyd, who described the owners as ethnic Indians. He said eight of those charged were identified as U.S. citizens, while five others were listed as citizens of Britain now in the United States on green cards.
“Human smuggling is a ruthless criminal enterprise that puts the safety of our communities and even our country at risk,” said ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Roberto G. Medina, who heads the agency’s office of investigations in Arizona.
“Businesses like these that collude with human smugglers bear a substantial responsibility for the violence and bloodshed that this illicit trade generates.”