Smugglers allegedly used black drivers to avert suspicion at border
Five people are charged in a plot to employ African Americans, mostly from Compton, to avert suspicion when bringing illegal immigrants across the border.
In the calculus of cross-border human smuggling, Maria Lopez-Diaz allegedly concluded that black instead of brown equals green.
The 60-year-old Compton woman, prosecutors say, tried to cash in on racial profiling by operating a human smuggling ring that hired mostly African American drivers who didn't speak a word of Spanish to ferry small groups of immigrants from Mexico to Los Angeles.
In the end, the alleged venture failed. Authorities announced charges on Thursday against Lopez-Diaz and four others, including conspiracy and transporting and harboring illegal immigrants. Lopez-Diaz, two family members and a driver were arrested by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-smuggling-charges-20120203,0,7381514.story
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