Human Smuggling—“Drop House” Enforcers

Immigration and Customs Enforcement [hereinafter ICE] officials have announced that two Guatemalan men are facing human smuggling and hostage-taking charges.^[1] Responding to a possible hostage situation at a residence near downtown Riverside, California, ICE agents allegedly found 25 Central American migrants crowded into two upstairs bedrooms.^[2] According to ICE, the aliens from Ecuador, Guatemala, and El Salvador said that they had been held for more than a month with only one meal a day, and threatened by the two Guatemalans who were acting as “enforcers.”^[3] The bedroom doors were deadbolted and bars were placed on the windows to prevent escape.^[4]

ICE agents were tipped off by a friend of one of the migrants who allegedly “told authorities he had sent $5,000 via wire transfer, but that the smugglers demanded an additional $5,000” for the operation.^[5] The two men who were arrested are not viewed as the heads of the organization, and ICE has said that they will “do everything [they] can to identify people further up in the organization.”^[6]

Human smuggling is distinguished from human trafficking primarily in the manner in which people are brought into the country. Human trafficking usually involves some sort of trickery or coercion, while smuggling involves the clandestine cross-border transportation of people, typically in exchange for money.^[7]

Human smuggling is a transnational crime that is covered by 8 U.S.C. § 1324. Under this statute, it is a crime for a person, knowing that an alien has not received prior official authorization to enter the United States, to bring that person into the US for the purpose of financial gain. The punishment for violating this section is a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.^[8] Harboring illegal aliens is also a crime, which can be punished by a fine, the potential for life in prison, or both.^[9]

Hostage taking is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1203. It is a crime under this section for a person to seize or detain and threaten to kill, injure, or to continue another person in order to compel a third person to do any act as a condition for the release of the detainee.^[10] The punishment for hostage taking is a fine, imprisonment for any term of years or life, or both.^[11]

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[1] ICE, Two Men Face Charges After ICE Agents Uncover Human Smuggling “Drop House” in Riverside, Dec. 29, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Anna Gorman, “Drop House” Spurs Arrests, LA Times, Dec. 30, 2005
[6] Id.
[7] See our post on human smuggling and trafficking here.
[8] 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2)(B).
[9] Id. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii).
[10] 18 U.S.C. § 1203(a).
[11] Id.