"Octogenarian pleads guilty in Calif. immigrant smuggling case" August 20, 2011|By Julie Watson, Associated Press
SAN DIEGO -A female-dominated ring that prosecutors say led 80 people a month to the Los Angeles area, the family-run smuggling business for more than 40 years when most mom-and-pop rings were driven out by increasingly violent men guiding illegal immigrants along perilous routes.
In an almost inaudible voice, the Spanish-speaking Felicitas Gurrola pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that she directed a smuggling organization that guided migrants across the heavily fortified US-Mexico border by giving them imposter IDs to present to immigration authorities at the crossing in San Ysidro, Calif....
The route Gurrola’s ring used from Tijuana to San Diego is the busiest US border crossing in the world.
Gurrola’s lawyer, Tom Matthews, said she ran her business for four decades without hurting any of her clients - unlike many of the traffickers who have left migrants stranded in the desert’s searing heat or drawn them into fast-moving Rio Grande waters, where they have perished.
“She was not shoving them in car trunks or building compartments,’’ he said. “This was a far cry from that. For what it counts, she passed them safely. Everyone involved had a chaperone and looked after them. Safety was always their concern. It was an old-school operation. She apparently ran it efficiently and safely and now she’s paying the consequences. Even a short sentence will end up being a life sentence for her.’’
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Decades ago, Mexicans in small towns and villages who wanted to seek work in the United States often would hire a trusted family member or neighbor who had already been and who would agree to guide them for a small fee.
But mom-and-pop organizations have faded away with the dramatic increase in border security.
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