I am a afraid the Fed's will let this guy and the Iraqis go....

[Ron]

Sullivan City man charged with smuggling Iraqis
Comments 9 | Recommend 3
March 18, 2009 - 6:11 PM
Jeremy Roebuck
The Monitor
McALLEN — A federal judge could decide today whether to grant bond to a Sullivan City man accused of smuggling three Iraqis into the country.

Prosecutors allege Juan De Dios Martinez Vela, 28, sneaked the men across the Rio Grande as part of a smuggling network with links back to the Middle East.

But federal officials had released few details Wednesday about the Iraqis' backgrounds or how the men had traveled from their home country to Mexico.

Martinez was arrested March 12 after U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped him near the intersection of Military and El Faro roads, north of Los Ebanos. Investigators found the Iraqis inside his pickup truck, which had earlier been spotted driving away from the Rio Grande.

According to the criminal complaint filed in his case, the men told agents that they had each paid $20,000 to an Iraqi smuggler working for a man named Murat to coordinate their trip to the United States.

Martinez's attorney - Jesus Maria Alvarez - declined to discuss the case Wednesday, saying he had not had a chance to fully review the facts.

Local Border Patrol agents detained foreign nationals from 72 different countries during the last fiscal year, but those from the Middle East remain relatively rare. The nation's northern border is a much more frequent crossing point for immigrants from majority Islamic countries seeking illegal entry into the United States, federal officials said.

U.S. immigration courts received more than 420 requests for political asylum last year from Iraqi nationals, although it remains unclear whether Martinez's alleged cargo arrived here in hopes of escaping hostile political conditions in their home countries.

Martinez is scheduled to appear in federal court this morning for a detention hearing. The detained Iraqis - Mohammed Awat Mahmood, Salih Wshyar Mohammed, and Beirut Majeed Azeez - remain in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and will likely testify against their alleged smuggler.