Ex-Border Patrol agents get at least 30 years

SAN DIEGO — Two brothers who worked as Border Patrol agents were sentenced to at least 30 years in prison each for smuggling hundreds of immigrants into the United States, crimes that the judge termed a threat to national security.

U.S. District Court Judge John Houston sentenced Raul Villarreal on Friday to 35 years in prison for being the ring leader and ordered him to pay a $250,000 fine. His brother, Fidel Villarreal, was sentenced to 30 years for managing the illicit business.

The sentences are among the longest given to border law enforcement officials for corruption.

Houston said he gave the severe sentences to deter other agents who have been entrusted by the American people to protect the border. The judge called their smuggling operation "disgusting."

Prosecutors said Raul Villarreal — who made television appearances as an agency spokesman and once played the role of a smuggler in a public service ad — recruited his brother to his ring. The veteran agents worked in cahoots with a corrupt Tijuana police officer and a network of others, including foot guides and drivers.

The agents would abandon their job duties manning the border to transport the migrants in Border Patrol vehicles — sometimes several times a day from the Mexican city of Tijuana to a rugged mountainous area along the California border, federal officials said. Prosecutors said they smuggled in as many as 1,000 Mexicans and Brazilians; the judge put the figure at more than 500.

The ring smuggled in immigrants in groups of 10 and charged them about $10,000 per group, said prosecutors who alleged the brothers made more than $1 million from the scheme. The judge put the figure closer to $700,000.

"This long-term guaranteed method of bringing aliens into the United States was disgusting, pervasive and impacted significantly the national interest," Houston told the court before handing down their sentences.

Raul Villarreal thanked the court for giving him a "good trial, a fair trial." His brother echoed that. They did not show any emotion when the sentences were announced.

Upcoming Events