RIGHT SPEAK: Mexican Nationals in Connecticut Charged with Operating Lucrative Illegal Alien Trafficking Scheme; Human Smuggling Ring: Mexican Nationals Extorted Workers They Smuggled Into Hartford, Feds Say

Mexican Nationals in Connecticut Charged with Operating Lucrative Illegal Alien Trafficking Scheme:

Two Mexican nationals, living in Connecticut, are accused of operating a labor trafficking scheme that brought illegal aliens to the Northeastern United States and forced them to pay sky-high smuggling fees in exchange for fake green cards and Social Security Numbers.

Mexican nationals Maria Del Carmen Sanchez Potrero, 69, and Apolinar Francisco Paredes Espinoza, 56, were arrested and charged this week for allegedly running a labor trafficking scheme for illegal aliens that ensured they would be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border and transported to Hartford, Connecticut.

According to court records, Potrero and Espinoza allegedly would arrange for mostly Mexican illegal aliens to cross the southern border at a fee ranging from $15,000 to $20,000. The fee, 10 victims told federal investigators, would be paid after they arrived in Hartford.

In a number of instances, victims said they were asked by Potrero and Espinoza to turn over a property deed to them as collateral before departing Mexico for the southern border. After arriving in Hartford, though, Potrero and Espinoza would allegedly require the illegal aliens to pay $30,000 in fees with interest and force them to pay for rent, food, and utility costs while living at the pair’s residence. --->READ MORE HERE

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Human Smuggling Ring: Mexican Nationals Extorted Workers They Smuggled Into Hartford, Feds Say

Two Mexican citizens smuggled several people to Connecticut for tens of thousands of dollars, and once they reached the state, the victims were extorted and forced to work off an impossible debt, federal authorities said.

Maria Del Carmen Sanchez, age 69, and Apolinar Francisco Paredes Espinoza (aka "Pancho"), age 56, helped illegally bring 10 people from Mexico to Hartford beginning in September, the US Attorney for Connecticut said. Federal investigators arrested them on Wednesday, March 1.

Sanchez and Paredes charged each person between $15,000 and $20,000, a debt they would need to pay once in the United States. Often, the victims were forced to sign over the deeds to their property in Mexico to the smugglers as collateral, the prosecutor said.

The victims lived in Sanchez and Paredes' home on Madison Street in Hartford, where they were forced to work and pay exorbitant fees, interest, and living expenses. If they failed to make the payments, the alleged smugglers would threaten them and their families with violence, investigators said.