Border agents arrested on smuggling charges
By Angelica [color="Red"]Martinez

12:37 p.m. March 9, 2006

SAN DIEGO – Two supervising U.S. Border Patrol agents were arrested Thursday on suspicion of smuggling undocumented immigrants in exchange for bribes from a smuggling ring, federal officials said.

Mario [color="red"]Alvarez, 44, and Samuel McClaren, 43, both of Imperial, were indicted Tuesday on eight counts that include conspiracy to bring in aliens for financial gain, conspiracy to commit bribery and filing false tax returns, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

The indictment said the agents received bribes of approximately $300,000 from [color="red"]members of the Javier Sanchez-Perfino Alien smuggling organization.

They also released, or facilitated the release of, illegal immigrants and smugglers, who were also undocumented, officials said. The immigrants were then turned over to the smuggling organization in exchange for money.

In one instance, authorities say, [color="red"]Alvarez and McClaren drove a member of the smuggling organization in a U.S. government vehicle from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service Processing Center in El Centro to a Wal-Mart parking lot in Calexico. The ring member was then let go in exchange for $6,000, officials said.

There can be no pursuit of justice where our law enforcement agents are corrupt,” United States Attorney Carol C. Lam said in a written statement. “If the defendants have chosen this path, they will face the consequences.” [Pious Bullshit]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060309-1237-bn09border.html