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UNITED STATES BORDER SECURITY
Family members sentenced to prison Human smuggling ring operated for some time By Joana Santillana LA R ED O MORNI NG T I ME S
Almost a dozen members of a human smuggling organization were sentenced Thursday in a Laredo federal court. Visiting Judge Keith P. Ellison presided over the sentencing hearings of Sandra Gongora, Abraham Alfonso Garza, Carlos Enrique Reyna-Garcia, Maria de Lourdes Gongora, Jose Gongora Sr., Juan Antonio Luna, Joseph Graves Jr., Guillermo Valdovinos-Rios, Mario Adalberto Ramirez-Guerrero, Jose Francisco Morales Jr. and Luis Rodriguez Jr. The organization was a family business, with parents, uncles and in-laws taking part in the illicit activities. The defendants’ plea agreements document several instances in which the defendants had encounters with law enforcement and were found to have participated in human smuggling. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfredo De La Rosa described the human smuggling ring as a longstanding organization that operated for a significant period of time. “This was not a one-time deal,” the prosecutor said. “This was a thorn on the side of Border Patrol and South Texas law enforcement.” The multi-person indictment states that the defendants conspired and agreed to move or attempt to transport and move undocumented immigrants within the United States between Sept. 1, 2015 and June 23, 2017. Multiple material witnesses admitted to paying between $5,000 and $10,000 to be transported to various locations in the country, according to court documents. Sandra Gongora and Garza received the longest prison sentences, 36 months and 30 months, respectively. De La Rosa said the investigation showed that Gongora was the second in command. She helped transport undocumented immigrants from several locations and load them into trailers and other vehicles. Court documents state that Garza confessed that he had moved undocumented immigrants to a tractor-trailer for a friend he owed money to. He admitted to picking up the immigrants from another vehicle and taking them to the trailer after. Reyna-Garcia was ordered to serve 24 months in prison. His plea agreement states that he transported undocumented immigrants and allowed the organization to use his rented home in south Laredo as a stash house. Maria Gongora, Jose Gongora Sr., Luna, Graves and Valdovino-Rios were all sentenced to 12 Court continues on A3
Cuate Santos / Laredo Morning Times
Jason D. Owens, acting chief patrol agent for the Laredo Sector Border Patrol, addresses members of the National Guard during an orientational meeting at the Laredo Energy Arena on Thursday.
NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ARRIVE IN GATEWAY CITY About 180 members will help support local Border Patrol agents By Julia Wallace LAREDO MORNING TIME S
About 180 members of the National Guard filed their way in to the Laredo Energy Arena early Thursday morning, marking the arrival of the first boots on the ground in Laredo since President Donald Trump signed an order for their deployment in April. Jason D. Owens, acting chief patrol agent for Laredo Sector Border Patrol, said these guardsmen will be here to help with Border Patrol’s efforts at least until October, but perhaps even through Fiscal Year 2019. Like U.S. Border Patrol as a whole, the Laredo Sec-
tor, which includes Zapata, is understaffed, Owens said. “We are less than 1,700 agents when we should be over 1,800. And the same is true for our operational support personnel. ... That’s before we even touch on the additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents that the president wants to give the entire United States,” Owens said. That would represent a 25 percent increase in Border Patrol’s force. After today’s orientation and training, these guardsmen will be filling roles in air support, operating camera towers, helping maintain the 1,500 or so vehicles in Laredo Sector Border
Patrol’s arsenal, and assisting with intel analyst support. “That’s the primary mission of this operation, is to help the Border Patrol increase its situational awareness along the border. ... We should be able to see when somebody crosses, we should be able to see where they’re going,” Owens said. In his address to the 180 guardsmen and women at the arena, Owens asked how many of them are from the border area. Less than 10 raised their hands. He then asked for how many of them this is their first time on the border. Essentially everyone else raised their hands. When people think of the U.S.-Mexico border, they typically envision an area like San Diego, where there’s a 20-foot border fence, Owens said. “What we have here is the Rio Grande. It twists
and turns through our (area of responsibility) in very dense vegetation, very flat on both sides. So maintaining that situational awareness, being able to respond to the traffic, is made much more difficult,” he told the Guard. There’s 170 miles of border to cover in the Laredo Sector. Owens said when the weather is good, all camera towers are working and aerostats are flying, only about a third of this area is under persistent surveillance. “Much has been said about the role that you guys are going to be accomplishing with us,” Owens said in his address. “It is going to be behind the scenes. It is not going to be out front doing enforcement action. So what? It’s critical. We need you doing it. ... It’s going to help keep bad things and bad people from Border continues on A3
INSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
MEXICO OIL INDUSTRY
Polls portend Mexico’s ruling party’s imminent dissolution
Reeling from job cuts, Pemex pins hopes on a rebel candidate
By Shannon O’Neil
By Amy Stillman
B L OOMBE RG NEWS
BL OOMBERG NEWS
The PRI is dead, long live the PRI! As Mexico hurtles toward a momentous election this July, the storied Institutional Revolutionary Party that dominated the country for nearly a century seems doomed. Sadly, however, while the PRI may implode, the clientelist system it created — and that holds Mexico back — will likely roll on. Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way. President Enrique Peña Nieto was going to
MEXICO CITY — In the wetlands of Tabasco in southeast Mexico, indigenous farmers stand guard outside oil wells. They have no official status — but anyone who wants to do business there has to pay to get past. At Well 144 in the massive Sen field, for example, owned by state-run Pemex, service companies say they have to pay off two such groups, who claim to represent local communities and landowners. In some areas there are as many as 10.
Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg
Jose Antonio Meade, PRI presidential candidate, speaks in Mexico City, Mexico on Wednesday.
be the PRI’s savior. After the party’s heavy legislative losses and dismal third place showing in the 2006 presidential
race, the photogenic governor used his political lineage, his made-for-TV personal story, and a Mexico continues on A8
Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, MORENA presidential candidate, speaks in Mexico City.
They charge fees that can reach 50,000 pesos ($2,670) a month for the larger international firms. There aren’t too many
other ways for the province’s people to make money out of oil. In the four years since Mexico Oil continues on A8