"Foreign National Pleads Guilty in Houston to Human Smuggling Charges"

Hi Gang:

Alien smuggling as a huge problem for the United States that, in my judgement, threatens national security as well as having other significant impacts on America and Americans.  Let us remember that the immigration laws of the United States were enacted for two primary purposes- to protect innocent lives and to protect

the jobs of American and lawful immigrant workers.

Time and again the administration has claimed that the borders of the United States are secure.  When Americans who live along the border complain that the borders are not secure, they can expect to be criticized and insulted by the President as typified when Obama made derisive remarks when he participated in a news conference in El Paso, Texas.

Here is a link to a video of that news conference where he talked about how those calling for border security would probably not be happy unless they built a moat and stocked it with alligators:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4696811/obamas-moat-joke-angers-border-community

Here is a link to my commentary that I wrote for Fox News Latino this past summer that was entitled,

“Opinion: Drawing The Line On National Security“

First of all, there was no mention about the immigration status of the smuggler who was identified as Fabiano Augusto Amorim, purportedly a 28 year old citizen of Brazil.  There was also no mention as to how Amorim or his co-conspirators themselves, entered the United States.

Additionally, it is disconcerting that the Department of Justice decided to refer to smuggled aliens as simply being “undocumented migrants.”  The term “migrant” conjures up the image of farm workers.  In fact, the United States has United States citizen migrant farm workers.  Clearly this terminology was misleading, at best, in this commentary when you realize that the smuggled aliens were reportedly citizens of India who had paid up to $60,000 each in order to circumvent the critically important inspections process that is supposed to prevent the entry of aliens into the United States who might pose a threat to national security or otherwise pose a threat to the well being of America and Americans.

This concern is especially appropriate given the fact that the route taken by these aliens was extremely sophisticated and circuitous.  Here is an excerpt from the news release that details how they were smuggled:

On June 6, 2012, Amorim was charged by indictment, along with four other individuals, with one count of conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States and six human smuggling counts related to five incidents in which Amorim helped smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States.  Based on Amorim’s guilty plea, the government will dismiss the remaining human smuggling counts against him at sentencing.

At the plea hearing and in related court documents, Amorim admitted that between January 2011 and April 2012, he conspired with his co-defendants to bring undocumented migrants to the United States, and to encourage and induce undocumented migrants to come to the United States unlawfully.  According to court documents, Amorim and his co-conspirators devised the scheme to profit financially.

In support of the conspiracy, Amorim and other conspirators recruited individuals in India who were willing to pay up to $60,000 to be smuggled into the United States.  For their smuggling operations, Amorim and his co-conspirators used a network of alleged conspirators in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the United States, including the state of Texas.  Using this network, Amorim and his co-conspirators transported groups of undocumented migrants from locations within India through South America, Central America and the Caribbean and then into the United States by various means, including by air travel, automobiles, water craft and foot.  Many of these smuggling events, including five of the incidents described in the indictment, involved illegal entry into the United States via the

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border between the United States and Mexico near McAllen and Laredo, Texas.

It should also be noted that the smuggler was only charged with just one count of smuggling because he agreed to plead guilty to the crimes with which he was charged.  Talk about cutting a deal!  There was no word of him providing any cooperation with investigators or prosecutors.  It is therefore quite likely that his punishment will not fit the crime.  Meanwhile, there was no mention as to how many aliens were, in fact, smuggled into the United States as a result of this smuggling operation.

Finally, while there was nothing in the news release to indicate that any of the aliens who were smuggled were engaged in terrorism, I am concerned that Amorim is a citizen of Brazil while the aliens were from India.  The Tri-Border region of Brazil is notorious for the terrorist training camps that involve members of Hezbollah, Hamas and likely al Qaeda.  Therefore it is worrisome that as is almost invariably the case where alien smuggling and large-scale fraud rings are concerned that apparently nothing is being done to identify, locate and arrest these smuggled aliens who paid huge sums of money in order to gain entry into the United States.  It must be presumed that any alien willing to pay up to $60,000 to be smuggled into the United States was not planning to take a job that paid minimum wages!

 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/January/13-crm-017.html

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, January 4, 2013

Foreign National Pleads Guilty in Houston to Human Smuggling Charges

WASHINGTON – A foreign national pleaded guilty today to federal human smuggling charges for his role in a scheme to smuggle undocumented migrants from India into the United States, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson for the Southern District of Texas; and Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Moskowitz of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston

Fabiano Augusto Amorim, 28, a Brazilian national, pleaded guilty today at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. in Houston, to one count of conspiracy to bring undocumented migrants into the United States for profit and to one count of unlawfully bringing two undocumented migrants into the United States for profit.

On June 6, 2012, Amorim was charged by indictment, along with four other individuals, with one count of conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States and six human smuggling counts related to five incidents in which Amorim helped smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States.  Based on Amorim’s guilty plea, the government will dismiss the remaining human smuggling counts against him at sentencing.

At the plea hearing and in related court documents, Amorim admitted that between January 2011 and April 2012, he conspired with his co-defendants to bring undocumented migrants to the United States, and to encourage and induce undocumented migrants to come to the United States unlawfully.  According to court documents, Amorim and his co-conspirators devised the scheme to profit financially.

In support of the conspiracy, Amorim and other conspirators recruited individuals in India who were willing to pay up to $60,000 to be smuggled into the United States.  For their smuggling operations, Amorim and his co-conspirators used a network of alleged conspirators in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the United States, including the state of Texas.  Using this network, Amorim and his co-conspirators transported groups of undocumented migrants from locations within India through South America, Central America and the Caribbean and then into the United States by various means, including by air travel, automobiles, water craft and foot.  Many of these smuggling events, including five of the incidents described in the indictment, involved illegal entry into the United States via the border between the United States and Mexico near McAllen and Laredo, Texas.
 
At sentencing, which is scheduled for April 5, 2013, Amorim faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.  Amorim currently is serving a 36-month sentence in federal prison for participating in a separate conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants from Brazil and Peru into the United States via a maritime route from the Bahamas into southern Florida.  
 
Amorim’s co-conspirator Maria Adela De Luna pleaded guilty on Nov. 9, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to harbor undocumented migrants in the United States.  Co-conspirator Kaushik Jayantibhai Thakkar pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to bring undocumented migrants into the United States for profit and to one count of unlawfully bringing two undocumented migrants into the United States for profit. 

The investigation was conducted by agents with ICE-HSI in McAllen and Houston, with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Alien Smuggling Interdiction Unit.  This case is being prosecuted jointly by Trial Attorney Stephen Curran of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leo J. Leo III and Casey MacDonald of the Southern District of Texas.
 
The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI.  The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.  ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources.  ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

13-017

Criminal Division