From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Mar 31 2010 - 09:00:10 EST
Eritrean man convicted in Houston of immigrant smuggling
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
March 30, 2010, 10:34PM
An Eritrean citizen has been convicted of helping to smuggle illegal
immigrants from East Africa into the country in an international human
trafficking scheme, federal officials said.
Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, 23, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in
Houston to one count of conspiracy and two counts of encouraging and
inducing immigrants to come to, enter or reside in the United States in
violation of law for the purpose of private financial gain, authorities said
on Tuesday.
He is scheduled to be sentenced June 14 and faces up to 10 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine.
Large network
According to plea documents, from at least June 2007 until approximately
January 2008, Fessahazion was the Guatemalan link of a smuggling network
that spanned East Africa and Central and South America.
In one instance, according to court documents, Fessahazion was part of a
plan to move two illegal immigrants from South Africa to Brazil and then
through Venezuela to Honduras, where they were told to contact Fessahazion,
who then had them brought to Guatemala.
For $800, federal authorities said, Fessahazion took them by bus to a house
near the border of Guatemala and Mexico. Then he and another smuggler helped
them find a guide to take them into Mexico and to find another smuggler who
helped ferry them across the Rio Grande on inner tubes from Reynosa, Mexico.
He helped another person who had been moved from Dubai to enter the United
States in a similar manner, federal officials said.
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