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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Some of People Accused of Immigrant Smuggling Denied Bond
Associated Press
EL PASO — Federal authorities have arrested 25 people, including a hotel owner, in an immigrant smuggling investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
Song U. Chon, owner of the Gateway Hotel in downtown El Paso, and one of the smuggling organization's alleged leaders, Guillermo Lopez Nunez, were both denied bond in federal court Thursday.
Another alleged leader in the smuggling group, Maria Isidra Luna Avila, hotel night manager Alejandro Garcia Rico and former hotel maintenance man Jose Herrera were also denied bond after their arrests.
Armando Arzate, a day manager at the hotel, was granted a $20,000 bond. Jail records show that he was released to the U.S. Marshal Service. Juo-Hsuan Hsu, who owned a restaurant inside the hotel, was also given $20,000 bond and remains jailed.
Jail records do not list attorneys for any of the defendants. Nineteen other people accused of being involved in the smuggling group have also been arrested in the past two weeks, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that since 2003 the hotel and other locations in El Paso were used to house newly smuggled immigrants until relatives in Mexico or other countries paid smugglers about $2,000. Once the fee was paid, prosecutors said, the immigrants were taken to their final destinations in the United States.
The six defendants, along with several others, were charged in a 51-count indictment in May. Charges include conspiracy to commit immigrant smuggling, immigrant smuggling, immigrant smuggling resulting in death and money laundering.
Luna, one of the alleged ringleaders, is charged with the death of an illegal immigrant who fled the smugglers and later drowned in a canal near the border.
If convicted, Luna could face up to life in prison.
Federal authorities are also trying to seize the hotel.
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