14 Travel Agency Workers Arrested For Smuggling Illegal Immigrants
PHOENIX — Fourteen travel agency owners or employees were indicted on human smuggling and other charges, accused of selling airline tickets they thought would be used by illegal immigrants, officials said.
Authorities said a records analysis showed six travel agencies sold tickets to an estimated 6,800 illegal immigrants in the United States since mid-2005. But Thursday's charges were connected only to the sale of tickets to undercover officers.
The travel agency employees were working independently of one another when they sold the tickets, said Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The undercover officers made it clear they were arranging travel for illegal immigrants and paid cash for dozens of one-way tickets across the nation, authorities said. The travel agencies offered advice on being discreet at airports, they said.
"They were so blatant about it because they hadn't been touched," Phoenix police Lt. Vince Piano said. "They would say, 'OK, you need to dress them like this. You need to walk them in through this. Does he have an ID?"'
The travel agency workers were charged under state human smuggling laws because they were facilitating the human trafficking, authorities said. Some faced charges of money laundering, conspiracy, racketeering and participating in fraudulent schemes.
This was one city! The next question that has to be asked is; How many other travel agency across the United States are doing the same thing? Cities like Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami or any other major southern city could have travel agencies doing it. Of all the ways to sneak into the US, buying tickets from travel agencies never entered my mind.
