kscarbel2 Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 Land Line / August 4, 2016 A Fort Worth trucker who pleaded guilty to smuggling 39 undocumented immigrants in the back of his trailer has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez sentenced 34-year-old Drew Christopher Potter to 41 months in prison during a sentencing hearing on Aug. 3. Potter had pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants. In addition to the jail time, Potter was sentenced to three years of supervised release, according to court records. According to the criminal complaint, Potter was arrested Sept. 18, 2015, at a Road Ranger convenience store at Highway 57 and Interstate 35 in Frio County. The complaint states that a concerned citizen called 911 after witnessing multiple people exiting the rear of Potter’s tractor trailer. All 39 individuals were later taken to area hospitals and treated for dehydration. Potter told investigators with Homeland Security that he had picked up what he initially thought was an abandoned trailer at the request of two men who hired him via an ad on Craigslist and had previously paid him $800 on two separate occasions to drive the trailers from Laredo to San Antonio. Potter claimed that when he stopped to buy a drink at the Road Ranger, he noticed the trailer was moving and that when he opened the door, people started jumping out of the trailer. Police arrived shortly thereafter. . Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46331-us-trucker-draws-prison-time-for-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 Watauga Man Accused of Smuggling People Into Texas for Profit NBC Dallas/Fort Worth / October 8, 2015 A Watauga, Texas man has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of smuggling undocumented [i.e. illegal] immigrants into Texas for financial gain, according to the Department of Justice. On Sept. 18, deputies with the Frio County Sheriff's Department and agents with the U.S. Border Patrol responded to a 911 call from someone who said they saw several people exiting a tractor-trailer parked at a convenience store in Frio County, southwest of San Antonio. When authorities arrived, they found 39 undocumented [illegal] immigrants, including 28 men, seven women and four children, from Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, officials said. "We see hands sticking out of a little rear door on the trailer," said Frio County Sheriff's Sgt. Jerry Reyna. "Very heartbreaking. The youngest that was in there was a 13-year-old little boy. As soon as he jumped out of the trailer he said, 'Thank you so much. Thank you for saving us,'" said Frio County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Ramirez. They took the accused driver, 33-year-old Drew Christopher Potter, into federal custody. He has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and three substantive counts of transportation of undocumented immigrants. "According to the indictment, Potter conspired to transport undocumented aliens for private financial gain," the DOJ said. Police said the trailer was a refrigerated unit, but it was not working properly, and temperatures were well above 100 degrees inside. "There was a little siding in that trailer, where you could tell they were trying to make a hole to get some air," Ramirez said. Potter remains in federal custody, officials said. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine for each count. . Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46331-us-trucker-draws-prison-time-for-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants/#findComment-341383 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 Heartbreaking? This group intentionally decided to illegally enter the United States, rather than applying at their U.S. Embassy to immigrate legally. Ignoring U.S. immigration law, they paid a bribe to climb into the back of a trailer that can not be opened from the inside. As of today, have all of those 39 illegal immigrants been deported? Note that the government and media have now replaced the term “illegal immigrant” with the softer “undocumented immigrant” language, because they don’t want to infer these people are........”illegally”........in the United States. The common American citizen, born and raised in the United States, is expected to follow our nation’s laws. We may not agree with them, to various degrees, but we are expected to obey our laws........and we do. With that in mind, why are “illegal” immigrants, individuals who have committed the very serious crime of crossing our borders illegally, repeatedly given amnesty and allowed to stay, many at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. Clearly, there is a double standard. If "illegal" immigrants, criminals by definition the moment they illegally entered the United States, are immune from U.S. law, would not natural-born U.S. citizens be afforded immunity from U.S. law as well? By allowing illegal immigrants to remain, an bizarre act of ignoring our established immigration laws, a tangled web is inherently woven. 2 Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46331-us-trucker-draws-prison-time-for-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants/#findComment-341384 Share on other sites More sharing options...
41chevy Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 My heart goes out to Hillary for losing all those voters...... 2 Quote "OPERTUNITY IS MISSED BY MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS DRESSED IN OVERALLS AND LOOKS LIKE WORK" Thomas Edison “Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit, what a ride!’” P.T.CHESHIRE Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46331-us-trucker-draws-prison-time-for-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants/#findComment-341405 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdogtrucker Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 (edited) I didn't read it all, but the Illegals pob. have free room/board and all kinds of other benefits after this... Edited August 5, 2016 by Bigdogtrucker Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46331-us-trucker-draws-prison-time-for-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants/#findComment-341416 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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