Sep 18, 2006 9:37 pm US/Mountain
Three Family Members Sentenced For Human Smuggling
by Rick Sallinger
HUDSON, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Three of the four people charged in what was called a "one-stop shopping approach to human smuggling" were sentenced on Monday.
Jeff Copp, the head of Denver's Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Moises Rodriguez, his wife Maria, and their son Javier, arranged for Mexicans to be smuggled into the U.S., housed them in their camp and put them to work in the fields.
Moises and Maria face deportation after spending nearly a year behind bars. Their son, Javier, received 3 years probation for harboring illegal immigrants.
The illegal immigrants who were housed in the camp are the ones who turned the couple in to authorities.
"They came in by themselves," said Marisol Rodriguez, the couple's daughter. "They were paid the wages they were supposed to."
Federal agents say the workers were told by the Rodriguez' to go to the hotel San Carlos in Palomas, Mexico where for $600, a "coyote" named Gerardo smuggled them across the border.
For $800 more, they were taken to Phoenix and the Rodriguez' transported them to Colorado.
"Whose picking up the onions? White people are not picking up the onions," said Leticia Rodriguez, the couple's other daughter. "Nobody is, just the Mexican people. But, I don't think everybody working in the fields is illegal."
The workers were housed in Hudson in a camp which was eventually seized by the government. The migrants had to work off their smuggling fee and live in less than ideal conditions.
Rodriguez family members gathered outside the courthouse after the sentencing.
"I think my grandparents shouldn't be in jail, they should be going after the big people," said the couple's grandson.
The illegal immigrants who lived in the camp are now suing the Rodriguez family.
Troy Eid, the U.S. Attorney, said Colorado called the crime "reprehensible."
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