Month: January 2013

"ICE deports leader of multinational human smuggling network"

Hi Gang:
On December 28th CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) posted my latest commentary I wrote for their website.
A copy of that commentary is attached below.  
The title of my commentary for CAPS was taken from an ICE news release that while touting the deportation of a smuggler of aliens into the United States also makes it clear that the DHS is not living up to its name.  DHS is an acronym for the Department of Homeland Security.  Those of you who are familiar with my writings and appearances on radio and television programs know that I have come to refer to the DHS as actually being the Department of Homeland Surrender!
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is a component agency of the DHS.  One of the most important missions of ICE is supposedly to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.  While often trivialized by those who stand to gain power and monetary fortunes by exploiting the immigration system, the immigration laws are, in fact, among the most important and fundamental laws any nation can enforce.  The immigration laws were enacted to achieve two goals- protect innocent lives and protect the jobs of American workers.
Given the multitude of threats and challenges America and American face today- it is incomprehensible that anyone would not think that those laws and the goals I just mentioned should not be high on the list of priorities for the U.S. government.
The ICE news release was relatively short and consequently I have decided to attach it here:

ATLANTA – A Guatemalan national, with dual citizenship in Mexico, was removed from the United States Wednesday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Orlando Escobar-Leon, aka Eduardo Morales Esquivel, 42, was a leader in a multinational alien smuggling network that was responsible for smuggling East African and Bangladeshi nationals from Colombia into Central America, and eventually, the United States. Due to the high-profile nature of his crimes, officers with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) turned him over to Guatemalan law enforcement authorities upon his arrival in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Between March 2008 and August 2009, Escobar-Leon and 12 co-conspirators facilitated the smuggling of more than 100 unauthorized illegal aliens into the United States. In return for his services, Escobar-Leon received between $350 and $1,500 per individual.

“This individual completely disregarded the value of human lives,” said acting ERO Atlanta Field Office Director David Rivera. “He manipulated the immigration systems of multiple countries, solely to benefit his bottom line.”

In January 2010, Escobar-Leon was charged in the United States via criminal

complaint with conspiracy to encourage and induce unauthorized aliens to come, enter and reside in the United States. In March 2010, Mexican law enforcement authorities arrested him in coordination with special agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Mexico City. He was subsequently extradited to the United States where he was arrested and charged for harboring aliens and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. He pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in March. Based on the fact that Escobar-Leon was only extradited to the United States to face charges, he did not have legal immigration status to remain in the United States. Upon his release from prison, he was transferred to ICE custody and processed as an expedited removal. He was detained at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., before ERO officers removed him back to Guatemala City. 

It is certainly encouraging that Mexican authorities reportedly worked cooperatively with ICE to achieve this successful conclusion in this case- but here are a few points worth considering.
1-  There was no mention of any efforts being expended by ICE to locate and arrest any of the smuggled aliens.  
2-  The news release stated “Escobar Leon was charged in the United States via criminal complaint with conspiracy to encourage induce unauthorized aliens to come enter and reside in the United States.”  It is interesting that illegal aliens are referred to as simply being unauthorized.  The previously preferred term (undocumented) has become a bit of a liability because, as I have noted on numerous occasions, it makes it clear that such aliens are unable or unwilling to provide evidence as to their true identities making them a potential national security risk.  
It is also worth giving some thought to the fact that politicians who openly declare their towns, cities and states to be sanctuaries where immigration laws will be ignored are also encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to come, enter and reside in the United States.  It is just that they apparently have the approval of the federal government to flagrantly ignore the immigration laws of the United States while Mr. Escobar-Leon and his co-conspirators did not!
3.  For all of his crimes he was sentenced to serve just 37 months in prison.  For potentially threatening the security of the United States by facilitating the surreptitious and obviously illegal entry of more than 100 illegal aliens from countries associated with terrorism into the United States he got a “slap on the wrist!”  Who said “Crime does not pay?”  (I wonder how he will fare when he returns to Guatemala to face that country’s criminal justice system!)
Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today!

If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! 

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

If you like this commentary, kindly forward it to as many folks as you can and ask them to do the same- I am attempting to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler- 



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http://www.caps-blog.org/articles/2012/12/28/ice-deports-leader-of-multinational-human-smuggling-network/


ICE deports leader of multinational human smuggling network

By Michael Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.), CAPS Senior Fellow, December 28, 2012

On December 20, 2012 ICE issued a news release that reported on the deportation of Orlando Escobar-Leon, aka Eduardo Morales Esquivel, an illegal alien possessing dual citizenship in Mexico and Guatemala. Escobar-Leon headed an alien smuggling network with 12 other co-conspirators whose identities and other background information were not divulged. Also unreported was the smugglers current location and what if anything, ICE is doing to identify and find the more than 100 illegal aliens they snuck into the United States.

According to the available information, the aliens originally came from East Africa and Bangladesh, then via Colombia into Central America and finally to the United States, presumably by crossing America’s southern border with Mexico

Since al-Qaeda has a growing presence in parts of Africa and Bangladesh, Those countries have been identified as having “Special Interest” because of their terrorist associations which ICE also doesn’t mention. As the saying goes, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” But terrorism is concerned, what we don’t know can hurt us!

While it has become fashionable to refer to illegal aliens as being “undocumented” or “unauthorized,” I prefer to use the term used when I was an INS Special Agent by which aliens evaded the inspections process. That term was EWI (EntryWithout Inspection). In other words, they entered surreptitiously—snuck in.

America’s southern border is not secure. Furthermore, currently millions of illegal aliens in the United States who entered via the inspections process either concealed material facts when they secured visas, entered under the auspices of the ever expanding Visa Waiver Program or lied to Customs and Border Protection inspectors.

The lack of interior enforcement, which has historically hobbled meaningful immigration enforcement, is virtually nonexistent under the current administration. Once aliens enter the United States, they’re home free.

America’s national security begins and ends at its borders. Today the borders of the United States also serve another purpose- they constitute the “Finish Line” for aspiring illegal aliens across the world including terrorists and transnational criminals.