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91–788 PDF 2004

S. HRG. 108–315

ALIEN SMUGGLING/HUMAN TRAFFICKING: SENDING A MEANINGFUL MESSAGE OF DETERRENCE

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, CORRECTIONS AND 

VICTIMS’ RIGHTS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JULY 25, 2003

Serial No. J–108–30

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah, Chairman 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania 

JON KYL, Arizona 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho 

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina 

BRUCE ARTIM, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, CORRECTIONS AND VICTIMS’ RIGHTS

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina, Chairman 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina 

JAMES GALYEAN, Majority Chief Counsel 

NEIL MACBRIDE, Democratic Chief Counsel 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Page

Biden, Hon. Joseph R., Jr., a U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware, 

prepared statement .............................................................................................. 34

Cornyn, Hon. John, a U.S. Senator from the State of Texas ............................... 5

Graham, Hon. Lindsey O., a U.S. Senator from the State of South Carolina .... 1

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 72

Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 73

WITNESSES 

Boyle, Jane J., U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas, Dallas, Texas .......... 24

Charlton, Paul K., U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona ........... 26

Cohn, Sharon B., Senior Counsel, International Justice Mission, Washington, 

D.C. ........................................................................................................................ 20

DeMore, Charles H., Interim Assistant Director of Investigations, Bureau 

of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security ......................................................................................................................... 6

Harris, Robert L., Deputy Chief, U.S. Border Patrol, Bureau of Customs 

and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security .............................. 3

Malcolm, John, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice .............................................................................................. 8

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Boyle, Jane J., U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas, Dallas, Texas, 

prepared statement .............................................................................................. 36

Charlton, Paul K., U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, prepared statement ................................................................................................... 41

Cohn, Sharon B., Senior Counsel, International Justice Mission, Washington, 

D.C., prepared statement .................................................................................... 51

DeMore, Charles H., Interim Assistant Director of Investigations, Bureau 

of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, prepared statement ...................................................................................... 59

Harris, Robert L., Deputy Chief, U.S. Border Patrol, Bureau of Customs 

and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, prepared statement ...................................................................................................................... 65

Malcolm, John, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice, prepared statement ........................................................... 75

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ALIEN SMUGGLING/HUMAN TRAFFICKING: 

SENDING A MEANINGFUL MESSAGE OF DETERRENCE 

FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2003 

UNITED STATES SENATE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, CORRECTIONS AND VICTIMS’ 

RIGHTS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:55 a.m., in Room 

SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lindsey O. Graham, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Graham and Cornyn. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, A U.S. 

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Chairman GRAHAM. Good morning. I appreciate everyone coming 

for the hearing. We are going to do something rarely we do in the 

Senate. We are going to get started ahead of schedule. I do not 

know if it is going to be a trend that catches on or not but we will 

try it. The hearing will come to order. 

I have a short opening statement. Then I look very much forward 

to hearing from our witnesses about a topic I think if more Americans were aware of, there would be a lot discussed about what is 

going on, and I appreciate the people coming today who are on the 

front lines of fighting this terrible condition that exists in the 

world. 

As we all know, people from all over the world want to come to 

America to pursue a better life for themselves and their families. 

Unfortunately, however, some people entrust their lives to some 

very dangerous people in the effort to gain our shores. I have been 

told that the business of trafficking human beings is about a $9–

1/2 billion business. 

Some people brought against their will, kept as human chattel, 

enslaved in horrible conditions in the midst of our freedom. This 

is 2003 and people are being taken against their will and forced to 

work in conditions you would not believe, so the world needs to be 

more aware that we have not progressed as far as we should have. 

I have called today’s hearing to examine the issues related to 

those situations, and after hearing the horrible deaths of aliens 

smuggled into the country and inhumanely abandoned along a 

Texas highway last month, I wanted this Committee to examine 

whether we are doing all we can to combat those horrible crimes. 

Alien smugglers and traffickers, through unabashed acts of profitVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:50 Feb 19, 2004 Jkt 091788 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\91788.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
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eering, endanger lives of countless aliens while compromising the 

integrity of our immigration laws at the same time. Make no mistake, the human incentives for human smuggling are enormous, 

$9–1/2 billion. 

The commodities involved in this trade, this business, are men, 

women and children who are smuggled, and they represent substantial profits for those people who decide to do this for a living, 

and no adjective can adequately describe the people involved in 

smuggling. 

The State Department estimates that more than one million 

women and children are trafficked around the world each year generally for the purpose of domestic servitude, sweatshop labor or 

sexual exploitation. At any given time the Department estimates 

that thousands of people are in the smuggling pipeline with the 

United States being the primary target. Smugglers deliver some 

50,000 aliens here each year. 

Alien smuggling is a global problem which requires a systematic 

and coordinated response. We should do all we can within our 

criminal laws to combat this terrible problem. I hope this hearing 

will serve as the beginning of a serious examination of those smuggling and trafficking crimes, and whether our law enforcement authorities have the proper tools to combat them. 

Accordingly, we will hear and see the evidence of some of the 

more tragic stories. I also want to focus attention on those smuggling or trafficking cases where no tragic consequences occur. Unbelievably, some people who traffic human beings are sentenced to 

time served, months, not years. 

Given the risk associated with these crimes every time they are 

carried out, the punishment should be appropriate to deter future 

smuggling or trafficking and to sufficiently sanction those who are 

caught. For instance, the Title 8 provisions provide that a person 

found guilty of alien smuggling where death results is subject to 

the full range of punishments including the death penalty. 

An issue that I want to explore in this hearing is why when the 

death results from a Title 18 traffic offense, where the victims are 

arguably more vulnerable, the defendant is not subject to the full 

range of punishments, specifically the death penalty. I look forward 

to hearing from the Department if there is a principle reason why 

there is a difference in the punishment on those closely-related 

cases. 

In other areas of deterrence we should explore the punishments 

in those cases where the risk of these serious consequences exists, 

but because of outstanding law enforcement or efforts, death or serious bodily injury is avoided. In other words, if you are caught involved in the activity where no one is hurt, you have set in motion 

forces where people could be hurt, and I think we all agree the 

punishments are too light in those areas. 

A debate regarding immigration policy is not what this hearing 

is about. Senator Chambliss, my good friend, is in charge of the Immigration Subcommittee. This hearing is about the scope of the 

problem, what we are doing to deter the problem, and what we can 

do in terms of law enforcement changes to make sure that our 

criminal laws in this country are sufficient to tackle what I think 

most Americans feel is a disgusting practice, and what can we do 

3

internationally? What can we do to help you, those on the front 

lines, do a better job in stopping this problem. 

I would like to welcome our first panel, and any statements from 

Senators of the Subcommittee or full Committee, we will introduce 

into the record at this time. I have a statement of Senator Hatch 

which will be introduced into the record. 

As I said, I would like to welcome our first panel, Assistant Attorney General John Malcolm, who supervises Department of Justice’s smuggling enforcement efforts, Interim Assistant Director 

Chuck DeMore from the Department of Homeland Security, who 

has the investigative section of the Bureau of Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement; and finally, Deputy Chief Robert Harris 

from the Bureau of Customs, Border and Protection in the Department of Homeland Security. 

I would appreciate it, gentlemen, if you could limit your statements, if possible, to 5 minutes. I will swear you in. It is just going 

to be us, it looks like, so we will do this fairly informally, and if 

you will give me a little bit about the background of your expertise 

and what your agency does, I very much look forward to your testimony. 

If you could rise at this time, please? Raise your right hand. Do 

you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give is the 

truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? 

Mr. MALCOLM. I do. 

Mr. DEMORE. I do. 

Mr. HARRIS. I do. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Deputy Chief Harris, do you mind starting? 

Thank you very much. 

STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. HARRIS, DEPUTY CHIEF, U.S. BORDER PATROL, BUREAU OF CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. HARRIS. Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Biden, and 

distinguished Subcommittee members, it is my honor to have the 

opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the mission of 

the United States Border Patrol, now a part of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. My name is Robert L. Harris, and I 

am the Deputy Chief of the United States Border Patrol. 

As you know, on March 1st, 2003, border patrol agents, immigration inspectors, agricultural inspectors, and customs inspectors, 

merged to form the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection within the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, a part of 

Homeland Security. Now, for the first time in our Nation’s history, 

agencies of the U.S. Government with significant border responsibilities have been brought together under one roof. With our combined skills and resources, we will be far more effective than we 

were as separate agencies. 

Within the new Bureau the mission of the United States Border 

Patrol remains unchanged. Our priority mission is the prevention 

of terrorism, and in carrying out this mission it is our responsibility to patrol our borders between official ports of entry, a mission 

that is critical to U.S. national security. 

Our area of responsibility includes 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico 

border, 4,000 miles of the U.S.-Canada border, as well as 2,000 

4

miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida peninsula and 

Puerto Rico. The current staff of over 10,400 border patrol agents 

take this mission very seriously. With our increasing capabilities to 

monitor and patrol—we are increasing our capabilities to monitor 

and patrol our northern border. In addition to the 245 additional 

agents for our northern border last year, Commissioner Robert 

Bonner recently directly the permanent assignment of an additional 374 agents to further strengthen our enforcement presence 

there. This new deployment, once completed, will provide the 

American people with a total of 1,000 agents to strengthen security 

along the U.S.-Canada border. These agents will enforce a strategy 

with the cornerstones of technology, intelligence, by national and 

interagency cooperation. 

Illegal migration and alien smuggling is a serious problem, and 

its impact and the associated criminal activity that accompanies it 

is far reaching. An uncontrolled border presents great concern, 

spreading border violence and degrading the quality of life in the 

border communities. 

The Border Patrol operates under a comprehensive national 

strategy designed to gain and maintain control of our Nation’s borders. Our operations have had a significant effect on illegal migration along the southwest border, relying upon the proper balance 

of personnel, equipment, technology and border infrastructure. Our 

national strategy is based on the concept of prevention through deterrence. Overall, our efforts have been very successful with significant decreases in apprehensions and illegal entries. Apprehensions 

have declined from a high of over 1.6 million arrests in fiscal year 

2000, down to less than 1 million in fiscal year 2002. We are also 

a leader in the southwest border in narcotics seizures. In fiscal 

year 2002 our agents seized over one million pounds of marijuana 

and over 7 tons of cocaine. 

In addition to significant arrests of aliens and narcotic seizures, 

cities like San Diego, El Paso and McAllen have experienced decreased crime rates and an overall improvement in the quality of 

life. This reduction in crime is due in part to the work of our 

agents and the effectiveness of our strategy. 

Through it all the Border Patrol has encouraged and maintained 

a positive relationship with local communities and law enforcement 

agencies, Federal, State and local, operating within the immediate 

border area. In recent years, unscrupulous alien smugglers have 

moved migrants into more remote areas with hazardous terrain 

and extreme conditions. As smuggling tactics and patterns have 

shifted, our strategy has been flexible enough to meet those challenges. Building on longstanding safety concerns, we have implemented a border safety initiative along the entire southwest border. Striving to create a safer border environment, we pro-actively 

inform migrants of the hazards before crossing the border illegally, 

and have established border search, trauma and rescue, or 

BORSTAR teams, as we call them, to provide quick response to 

those in life-threatening situations. In fiscal year 2002 our 

BORSTAR agents recused over 1,700 people in distress. We have 

developed public service announcements for television, radio and 

newspaper agencies, both in the United States and Mexico, warning against the dangers of smuggling and illegal entry. 

5

Nationally, the Border Patrol is tasked with the very complex, 

sensitive and difficult job which historically has presented immense 

challenges. The challenge is huge, but one which our agents accept 

willingly, with vigilance, dedication to service and integrity. I know 

I speak for all of our men and women when I say that we are proud 

to serve the American people as part of the newly-created Department of Homeland Security. 

I would like to thank the Subcommittee for the opportunity to 

present this testimony today and I would be pleased to respond to 

any questions that you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Harris appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you, Chief Harris. 

At this time I want to welcome Senator Cornyn to the hearing. 

He has been a tremendous ally of mine in trying to bring the hearing about, and bringing some solutions to the table. 

If you would like, Senator Cornyn, you may make an opening 

statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Senator CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thanks to all the witnesses who are with us today, and the second panel as well, that we are looking forward to hearing from. 

I will just have very brief remarks. I want to say that you all 

have my profoundest support and empathy, I guess, for the tremendous challenge you have. Unfortunately, I think the challenges are 

huge and we are not yet—we have not yet met those challenges 

when it comes to controlling our borders, dealing with exploitation 

of those who come to this country in order to try to find a better 

way of life. Of course, in my State of Texas, we have seen recent 

tragedies dealing with the phenomenon that we are talking about 

today. 

I am grateful to Chairman Graham for convening this Subcommittee hearing so we can talk more about it and what we can 

do to combat it. I know the facts of the Victoria, Texas case have 

been widely reported, but I think we can all gain from being reminded of the disturbing facts. In May of this year 17 undocumented aliens were found dead inside of a tractor-trailer. The victims ranged in age from 7-years-old to 91-years-old. These suffered 

a death while riding in the back of a trailer with possibly over 100 

others from Mexico into South Texas. Investigators believe the temperature in the truck exceeded 100 degrees. As of July 17, 2003 a 

total of 14 defendants have been charged with various smugglingrelated crimes arising out of this incident. Despite this case, smugglers continue to use sealed railroad cars and tractor-trailers to 

move illegal aliens through the South Texas smuggling corridor, 

and I think we have seen that they are only limited by their imagination in terms of the means and methods by which they bring 

their cargo, their human cargo across the border. Only days after 

the discovery in Victoria, Texas, 16 other migrants were discovered 

in a tractor-trailer only an hour away. 

The news of these instances has saddened and angered me, and 

I think many others. The criminals involved preyed on these famiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:50 Feb 19, 2004 Jkt 091788 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\91788.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
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lies’ desire to come to the United States for a better life. I believe 

these callous and willful actions not only claimed lives and endangered others, but threatened the national security of our country. 

I understand the Chairman is investigating legislative proposals to 

increase the penalties for human traffickers, and I applaud him 

and support those efforts wholeheartedly, and offer my assistance 

in any way I can possibly provide. 

Let me just say in conclusion I appreciate your present here, and 

you have the support of not only this Committee, but the entire 

U.S. Congress and the American people, to try to deal with the 

enormous and sometimes it seems overwhelming challenges we 

have when it comes to regaining security of our borders and dealing with the profoundly sad and tragic exploitation of those who 

cross our borders seeking a better life. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thanks, Senator Cornyn. 

Mr. DeMore? 

STATEMENT OF CHARLES H. DEMORE, INTERIM ASSISTANT 

DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS, BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION 

AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. DEMORE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the 

Committee. I am Chuck DeMore, Interim Assistant Director of Investigations for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and I thank you for the opportunity to address you regarding 

our efforts to combat smuggling of aliens into the United States. 

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and specifically BICE, combined the legal authorities and the investigative 

tools necessary to effectively combat organized human smuggling 

and trafficking. 

I would like to begin by providing an important clarification and 

necessary distinction between the terms ‘‘alien smuggling’’ and 

‘‘human trafficking.’’ Human trafficking involves force, fraud or coercion, and occurs for the purpose of either forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation, generally over an extended period of time. 

Alien smuggling, on the other hand, is an enterprise that produces 

short-term profits resulting from one-time fees paid by the smuggled aliens themselves or their respondents. Human smuggling has 

become a lucrative international criminal enterprise and continues 

to grow in the United States. The commodities involved in this 

multibillion dollar illicit are men, women and children. 

Traffickers and smugglers transport undocumented migrants into 

the United States for work in licit and illicit industries. The trafficker’s foremost goal, like the smuggler, is to maximize profits. To 

illustrate the callous disregard smugglers have for human life, I 

would like to provide you with the details of some recent tragic 

smuggling involving deaths. 

In October 2002 in Iowa, 11 undocumented aliens were found 

dead in a covered grain car near Dennison, trapped in the grain car 

for 4 months. The crime is the subject of an ongoing investigation. 

In May 2003, as was alluded to, in Victoria, Texas, 17 undocumented aliens were found dead inside a tractor-trailer. Four hours 

into their 300-mile trip to Houston, oxygen ran out in the dark, 

7

sealed, hot and airless trailer. The trapped aliens beat their way 

through the trailer tail lights in a desperate attempt to signal for 

help. Within 72 hours of the grisly discovery, special agents and intelligence analysts from BICE, in collaboration with our colleagues 

from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Victoria County District Attorney’s 

Office, the United States Secret Service, and the Victoria County 

Sheriff’s Office, identified and arrested four defendants in Ohio and 

Texas. As of July 17, 2003, a total of 14 defendants have been 

charged with various smuggling-related crimes arising from this 

tragic incident. 

Still, as you suggested, Senator, smugglers remain undaunted by 

this tragedy. They continue to use sealed railroad cars and tractortrailers to move aliens throughout the South Texas smuggling corridor. In fact, only days, as you suggested, after the discovery in 

Victoria, 16 other migrants were discovered in a tractor-trailer an 

hour away. It remains unknown what their fate might have been 

had they not been discovered by law enforcement. 

In January 2000 in the State of Washington, 3 undocumented 

aliens were found dead in a cargo container in Seattle. The 3 were 

part of a group of 18 smuggled Chinese aliens that had been sealed 

in the container for a period of 2 weeks crossing the sea. The survivors, who were in dire medical condition, remained in the container with the deceased until they were discovered. 

In March 2000 in California, 6 undocumented migrants were 

found in the San Diego East County mountains, 4 of whom died 

due to hypothermia. The smugglers abandoned the group in the 

snowy mountains even as the aliens pleaded not to be abandoned. 

In December 2001 in Florida, a capsized vessel was found in the 

Florida straits, alleged to have been carrying 41 Cuban nationals 

including women and children. All are believed to have perished at 

sea. 

Finally, last year in Arizona, 133 deaths were attributed to alien 

smuggling in the unforgiving Arizona deserts. Tragically, many of 

these deaths were due to aliens being abandoned in the desert 

heat. Unfortunately, not all of the deaths were accidental. The 

BICE Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix is currently investigating 

several alien-smuggling organizations believe responsible for 13 

homicides. Several of the deceased were undocumented aliens who 

were unable to pay for their smuggling fee, and instead were forced 

to pay with their own lives. 

I’m pleased to note that just yesterday, some very significant arrests were made in Phoenix with respect to these ongoing investigations. Local law enforcement agencies in Arizona attribute most 

of the increase in immigrant-related violent crime, hostage taking 

and home invasions, to an active alien smuggling trade there. 

It is clear as evidenced by these examples that alien smuggling 

is not confined to any geographic region, is a problem of national 

scope which requires a coordinated national response. BICE is currently developing a foreign and domestic anti-smuggling strategy, 

which has as a cornerstone the implementation of critical incident 

response teams. The purpose of these investigative teams is simple 

and effective, to begin the investigation, like in Victoria, of a critical incident as quickly as possible, bringing to bear this Bureau’s 

8

broad spectrum of statutory authority supported by a robust infrastructure to include language and cultural specific interview skills, 

land, air and marine smuggling assets and intelligence crime scene 

management, victim, witness, forensic and financial tracking specialists. 

Increased efforts are also placed on addressing the smuggling of 

juveniles into the United States which has surged in recent years. 

This increase is driven by the demand created by U.S. citizens and 

others wanting to illegally adopt children from abroad, immigrants 

attempting to reunite their families, and various forms of child exploitation. Trafficked children are often lured by promises of education, a new skill or a good job. Other children are kidnapped outright and then bought and sold as commodities. 

In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks we also more 

fully appreciate our vulnerabilities with respect to terrorists using 

established smuggling networks to threaten domestic public safety, 

as well as American interests abroad. BICE views the destruction 

of transnational smuggling and trafficking organizations as an extraordinarily high priority. 

The most effective means of addressing this vulnerability is by 

attacking the problem in source and transit countries, thereby preventing the ultimate entry of our enemies into the United States. 

To that end we presently serve as co-chair with the Department of 

Justice and with Central Intelligence Agency to an interagency 

working group targeting smuggling organizations that present national security concerns for the United States. 

Members of this Subcommittee have previously raised the issue 

of a need for enhancing penalties for smuggling offenses. While we 

believe that penalties set forth in Section 274 of the INA to be adequate, in practice, the sentences imposed in other than the very 

high-profile cases traditionally have been quite short. 

We look forward to working with this Committee in our efforts 

to save lives and secure national interests. I thank you for inviting 

me to testify, and I will be glad to answer any questions. 

Time permitting, I do have some compelling photographs which 

depict the callous disregard alien smugglers have for their human 

cargo, which at your convenience, we would be happy to show. 

Thank you, sir. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. DeMore appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. 

Mr. Malcolm? 

STATEMENT OF JOHN MALCOLM, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, CRIMINAL DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 

Mr. MALCOLM. Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, 

thank you for the opportunity to appear on behalf of the Department of Justice to discuss the problems of international alien 

smuggling and human trafficking, which we sometimes to as trafficking in persons. 

These two serious crimes, distinct in nature, but related in their 

effects, are of great importance to the Department because they 

present both national security and human rights concerns. In my 

9

role as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division, I oversee the Domestic Security Section and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, which are the offices within the Division that focus on these offenses. 

The Department’s Civil Rights Division also has criminal prosecutors who target human trafficking, and we often coordinate our 

efforts with them in combatting these pernicious offenses. 

Ultimately, alien smuggling and human trafficking subvert our 

Nation’s sovereignty. Alien smuggling puts the decision about who 

enters our country into the hands of criminals who may not know 

and probably don’t care if their actions help terrorists or other 

criminals to enter our country. Both types of crimes strain limited 

resources and penalize persons who wish to enter our country legally. These crimes also enable international criminal organizations 

to flourish throughout the world and breed corruption often of border officials in other countries, thereby undermining respect for the 

rule of law and harming basic democratic institutions. 

Some have argued that alien smuggling is a so-called victimless 

crime. I would like to put that pernicious myth to rest. Smuggled 

migrants are often subjected to violence and inhumane and dangerous conditions. Some are trafficked into sexual exploitation or 

forced labor. Others die every year from drowning, abandonment, 

accidents of brutality by smugglers. While it is not uncommon to 

find one or two bodies in the mountains or in the desert, it’s only 

when a large number of migrants die that the national attention 

focuses on the danger that these desperate people face. The recent 

deaths of nearly a score of migrants in Victoria, Texas who suffocated to death in a tractor-trailer, abandoned by their smugglers, 

is only the most recent example. 

Even if migrants arrive at their intended destinations alive and 

unscathed, however, smugglers have been known to extort payments and exorbitant fees by forcing migrants into virtual slavery, 

including selling them into sexual exploitation or by holding family 

members, back in their home country, for ransom. The Department 

takes these cases seriously. 

Primarily through United States Attorneys’ Offices around the 

country, we prosecute a large number of alien smuggling cases 

every year. In 2001 we obtained approximately 1,900 convictions 

for alien smuggling offenses, 17 percent of the total number of immigration related convictions for that year. 

We owe this Subcommittee, the Judiciary Committee and the 

Congress as a whole a debt of gratitude in enacting legislation that 

has helped us fight immigrant smuggling and human trafficking. 

Most notable were the Trafficking of Victims Protection Act of 

2000, as well as legislation in recent years that focused on alien 

smuggling and document fraud crimes and penalties. Relying on 

the TVPA and a variety of other statutes, the Department has 

moved forcefully to punish traffickers as well as to assist their victims. As of March 2003, there are 128 open trafficking investigations, nearly twice as many as there were in January of 2001. 

We use various methods to investigate and prosecute these 

crimes. Sometimes agents discover smuggling operations or human 

trafficking operations while in progress, as occurred in Victoria, 

Texas. More typically, especially in smuggling cases, law enforceVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:50 Feb 19, 2004 Jkt 091788 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\91788.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
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ment officers will encounter a small group of persons along the border with a coyote, who is the person who has been designated as 

a guide to guide the migrants over the border. Sometimes agents 

will receive informant tips or intelligence from foreign countries. 

Particularly in cases of large-scale criminal operations, those investigation may be long term, resource intensive and involve the use 

of confidential informants and undercover agents. 

As with the war on terrorism, interagency and international cooperation is essential to our efforts. The Criminal and Civil Rights 

Division work with other agencies such as the FBI, the Department 

of Homeland Security, the Labor Department and the State Department, as well as with foreign law enforcement counterparts. 

We also have worked to strengthen the laws of other countries 

and to make smuggling and trafficking extraditable offenses. We 

have assisted other countries in their efforts to remove corrupt officials who aid alien smuggling organizations, and have helped our 

foreign counterparts to initiate their own prosecutions. 

Lastly, I would like to describe a couple of recent cases that exemplify our alien smuggling and human trafficking prosecutions. 

Last year here in Washington we tried and convicted an Iranian 

national, Mohammed Hussein Assadi, for alien smuggling. Assadi 

ran a large-scale organization that smuggled aliens, generally from 

Middle Eastern and South Asian countries, into the United States 

on commercial airlines. Assadi’s ring provided aliens with stolen 

photo-substituted passports from European countries that qualify 

for visa waiver privileges under U.S. laws. As a result of interagency and international cooperation from other countries, Assadi 

was apprehended and then expelled from the foreign country, and 

he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. 

A recent human trafficking case, United States v. Kil Soo Lee, 

involved sweatshops in American Samoa. FBI agents worked with 

the Labor Department and INS investigators to uncover a trafficking scheme where 200 Vietnamese and Chinese nationals, mostly young women, were smuggled into American Samoa from Vietnam to work as sewing machine operators in a garment factory. 

The traffickers held these women for up to 2 years, using extreme 

food deprivation, beatings and physical restraint to force them to 

work. In February a jury convicted Kil Soo Lee, the owner of the 

factory and leader of the organization on nearly all of the counts. 

Two other defendants pled guilty. Mr. Lee is going to be sentenced 

this December and faces a substantial prison term. 

The sentences in smuggling and trafficking cases have varied significantly. Some cases have had significant sentences and a number have not. It’s my understanding that the Sentencing Commission has put on its agenda for the upcoming year a review of immigration related guidelines, and the Department looks forward to 

working with this Subcommittee and with the Sentencing Commission on these issues. In particular, as noted in my written testimony, and as will be, I expect, highlighted by some of my colleagues, such as Paul Charlton in the second panel we believe that 

sentences, particularly in alien smuggling cases that have not resulted in death or violent injury do not always appropriately reflect 

the seriousness of the crime, and we look forward again to working 

with the Subcommittee to improve our laws. 

11

We believe that this could assist the Government’s efforts to discourage illegal immigration while prosecuting to the full extent of 

the law those smugglers and traffickers who deal in human misery, 

exploitation and desperation. 

I would ask that the full text of my written comments be included in the record, and with that, I would be happy to answer 

the Subcommittee’s questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Malcolm appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. It will be ordered as such. 

Could we see the photos right quick? Then we will go to Senator 

Cornyn. 

Mr. DEMORE. I believe one of my two colleagues at the table 

might have personal involvement in these cases as well, so, please, 

if you do, join in. 

This just shows the disregard, as I suggested before, that the 

alien smugglers show for the aliens. This individual is secreted in 

a dashboard of a vehicle. 

Chairman GRAHAM. That is a person in a dashboard? 

Mr. DEMORE. This is a woman, whose face you can see if you 

were to open the glove box, but her body literally is secreted behind 

the dashboard. 

This gentleman here was literally—he had a chair built around 

him, and you can imagine the heat in that configuration. And as 

you know, the line sometimes getting into the country is significantly significant, so. 

This just shows over-the-road smuggling. The number of people 

that are put into some of these vehicles are beyond comprehension. 

I’ve seen 25, 30 people come out of a vehicle that were really— 

Chairman GRAHAM. What will they charge someone? 

Mr. DEMORE. Now, when I was doing alien smuggling, the fee was $300 from roughly the Tiajuana area to Los Angeles. I am told 

now because of the successes of the Border Patrol on the border, 

it is closer to $1,000 to $1,500 for the— 

Senator CORNYN. You mean when you were combatting it? 

Mr. DEMORE. Yes, sir. 

Senator CORNYN. I think you said when you were doing alien 

smuggling. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator CORNYN. We understood what you meant, but I wanted 

the record to be clear. 

Mr. DEMORE. Again, you see the number of people that are put 

into these vehicles put them in great harm. 

Senator CORNYN. How old are those children? 

Mr. DEMORE. You will find people put in trunks and backs of vehicles that children, elderly people, there is no real regard for their 

physical comfort or safety. These two vehicles here were subject to 

rollovers. Very often the smugglers will ask one of the smuggled 

aliens to drive for a reduced fee, and people who have very limited 

skills, and particularly on the highways in the United States take 

behind the wheel, and often they result in rollovers and fatalities. 

Senator CORNYN. Go ahead. 

Mr. DEMORE. Maritime smuggling is also a significant threat. 

Hundreds and hundreds of people may be put on a vessel, three or 

12

four weeks at sea. We have found aliens have been thrown off of 

the vessels. If, for whatever reason, they seem to pose any kind of 

threat to the smugglers, they have been known to be thrown into 

shark-infested waters. We have actually recovered bodies that have 

been attacked by sharks after the smugglers had thrown them 

overboard. 

Use of containers, as the testimony suggested, we have seen that 

coming from China—people put for weeks on end into containers 

and obviously some perish and the rest are literally trapped in the 

container with the deceased until such time as they can be— 

Chairman GRAHAM. And you are talking about weeks, not days. 

Mr. DEMORE. Weeks, yes, sir. 

This is the Victoria case. Obviously, ultimately, 19 deceased 

aliens. In fact, it is so horrific that I will tell you that interviews 

of the aliens suggested that a group of adult males wished to dismember the child that you referred to Senator so as to be able to 

force his body parts through the truck—so as to alert people on the 

outside that they were in such peril. That is the degree of, that is 

just horrific. Obviously, the bodies. These are the 14 individuals 

that have been taken into custody, charged with various crimes relating to this conspiracy. 

Now, these people are, are they the masterminds or are they the 

worker bees or do we know? 

Mr. DEMORE. It is a combination of both. 

Chairman GRAHAM. A combination of both. 

Mr. DEMORE. We have some significant players here, a woman 

that would, immediately after the arrest, went to Honduras. We do 

not have extradition with Honduras. We ultimately were able to 

lure her into Guatemala and ultimately take her into custody. 

Chairman GRAHAM. What do we need to do to get extradition 

with Honduras? 

Mr. DEMORE. I sure the Department of State could probably best 

answer that, but that would be helpful. We have known of other 

cases, and I think one of the U.S. attorneys will refer to that in 

the second panel. 

This shows some of the smuggling routes. Smugglers will use 

multiple transit countries, numerous conveyances, types of conveyances, travel documents from a whole host of countries, some good, 

some bad. 

This is a proprietary. This is actually a house that we set up in 

the context of an alien smuggling organization so we could identify 

the alien smugglers and subsequently present for prosecution. It 

was all set up for video and audio. We could actually watch the 

smugglers bring the smuggled aliens into the house and identify 

who was involved, and what kind of capacity, in this operation. 

This is the monitoring of the load house from an adjacent residence, where we had the tech equipment set up. 

This is a really interesting vehicle. This was interdicted last 

week by the Coast Guard. It is an old Chevy truck that they affixed 

pontoons to, configured the drive train to turn a propeller, and I 

am told that it was about 50 miles at sea when it was interdicted 

by the Coast Guard. And my first question was that is interesting 

that they were wearing life rafts, but those were obviously dropped 

by the Coast Guard. 

13

So this is the kind of ingenuity the smugglers will use and the 

dangers, the present dangers, they put the aliens, subject them to. 

I think that is it. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very much. It is very informative. 

Senator Cornyn? 

Senator CORNYN. Just so we understand the scope of the problem, a couple of you I guess have differentiated between human 

trafficking and alien smuggling, and I assume those are both done 

for a profit motive; is that correct, Mr. Malcolm, in your experience? 

Mr. MALCOLM. Yes, Senator. The difference between the two, 

very simply, is that people who are trafficked are brought in by 

force, fraud or coercion, and once they reach their destination, they 

are enslaved in either domestic labor, farm labor or sex labor situations. People who are smuggled have paid a fee for the purpose of 

coming into this country, and once they pay those fees, often being 

exorbitant, they are set loose into the community or they join loved 

ones to make it on their own, but they are both highly profitable 

activities. 

Senator CORNYN. But I assume that if someone is willing to, for 

money, traffic in human beings or to assist in the smuggling of 

human beings, there is no reason why that same person, interested 

in purely a profit motive, would not cooperate with terrorists in infiltrating our country. Would you agree with that Mr. DeMore? 

Mr. DEMORE. Yes, sir, I would. In fact, we know of Middle Eastern nationals who are resident in third-party countries, Ecuador, 

Uruguay, other countries, that actually facilitate the movement of 

aliens from the Middle East through transit countries destined to 

the United States. 

Senator CORNYN. Well, for example, in my State of Texas, we 

share a 1,200-mile common border with Mexico, and some have 

concerns, and I share those concerns about the consequences of 

human smuggling, when it is people who are coming across the 

border merely to work here, and what happens to them, but I also 

have a concern about others from other countries who may come 

to Mexico and across our borders because they know that that is 

a porous border, and getting less porous all of the time, I hope, but 

still porous nonetheless. 

Mr. Harris, in your experience or your agency’s experience, have 

you seen that phenomenon? 

Mr. HARRIS. Could you clarify the question, please. 

Senator CORNYN. Sure. People coming from other countries to a 

place like Mexico to cross our border on the U.S.-Mexican border, 

rather than entering through some other route because they know 

that that is a vulnerable border to trans-border crossings. 

Mr. HARRIS. Certainly. As I stated in my opening statement, 

Senator, we arrest on average over a million people a year, by and 

large the bulk of those, over 90 percent of those are from the country of Mexico, but the people that we encounter from other countries, you can just name pretty much any country in the world, we 

arrest people from those areas. 

We have, this year, arrested about 250 aliens that we refer to 

from special interest countries where there is a high degree of interest by the U.S. Government. The bulk of those arrests occurred 

14

on the U.S. Canada border, but these were not, you know, the majority of them were not people actually crossing the border. They 

were encountered by other law enforcement agencies during jail 

check and what have you. 

Senator CORNYN. So those apprehensions could include countries 

that are state sponsors of terrorism on the State Department’s 

Watch List, for example? 

Mr. HARRIS. Certainly. But, by and large, along the U.S.-Mexico 

border, we have not encountered any significant increase or any 

significant numbers of those people crossing the U.S. and Mexico 

border. Certainly, we do recognize it as vulnerability, but in terms 

of apprehensions and what have you, we have seen nothing significant, no. 

Senator CORNYN. You catch about a million a year? 

Mr. HARRIS. On average about a million a year. In fiscal year 

2000, 1.6 million; 2001, 1.2 million; last year was 970,000/980,000, 

around in there. We expect a similar number this year. 

Senator CORNYN. Do you know how many make it across that, 

due to lack of resources or whatever the reason may be, technology, 

that you do not catch? 

Mr. HARRIS. Well, there is all kinds— 

Senator CORNYN. Or what percentage you do catch? 

Mr. HARRIS. I do not have a good answer for that question. I will 

tell you that right now. I have heard and seen some of the estimates. I will tell you that in areas where we do have adequate resources, where we have implemented our strategy, where we have 

sufficient personnel equipment and technology, we are much better 

at being able to come up with that number. Especially where we 

have the camera systems and sensors and what you have, we can 

tell pretty much what comes across the border and then account for 

what we catch and what we don’t. But in areas where we don’t 

have those kind of resources, we don’t have a good way to get that 

number. 

Senator CORNYN. I have seen figures, it seems to me, and I am 

not trying to be precise here, but somewhere on the order of hundreds of thousands that still come across our borders that are not 

apprehended. Would you have any reason to disagree with a number in the 200,000 range? 

Mr. HARRIS. I would have to look at those figures and how someone would come up with those types of estimates. 

The figure that I see most recently referred to is the Census data 

about how many illegal aliens we have in the country, although I 

would say that those do not necessarily represent people who cross 

the border between the border between the ports of entry and escape. A lot of those country came into the country legally, through 

the ports, with proper documents and did not leave the country. I 

understand that the Department has been working diligently to establish a means of tracking those types of people to make sure that 

they do leave the country. 

Senator CORNYN. The figure I have seen is about 40 percent of 

our illegal immigration is a result of people who have overstayed 

their visas, which would leave, I guess, 60 percent who have gotten 

here without any legal authority whatsoever. But I guess it is realVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:50 Feb 19, 2004 Jkt 091788 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\91788.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
15

ly a hard question to say you know who you catch, but I guess you 

do not know who you do not catch. 

Mr. HARRIS. Certainly. Very difficult to measure. We know, obviously, we’re not catching everybody. We think we’re getting much 

better at it, but obviously we do have some work left to do in a lot 

of areas, especially along the Southwest border. 

Senator CORNYN. The figures I have seen are we have between 

8 to 10 million undocumented immigrants in this country. I was 

shocked to learn, with Senator Chambliss in his Subcommittee last 

week, that we have about 300,000 people currently in the United 

States under final orders of deportation. They have exhausted all 

legal remedies, and we simply do not know where they are. So the 

problem is huge in magnitude. 

Two other quick subjects I wanted to ask about, and perhaps, 

Mr. Malcolm, this one would relate to you. Chairman Graham has 

called this to look at what sort of penalties the Congress might 

enact or consider to deter this sort of reprehensible activity. But we 

have a problem, I guess, particularly with Mexico and other countries that simply will not extradite their citizens if they are subject 

to a death penalty. I believe that also extends to those who have 

potentially a life sentence. Is that correct? 

Mr. MALCOLM. I believe so. 

Senator CORNYN. So that is certainly, I guess, Mr. Chairman, 

something we are going to have to consider and certainly something that the State Department in our discussions with our neighbors in Mexico, if we are going to ratchet up the penalties, whether 

we are going to get the kind of cooperation that I believe we need 

with neighboring countries and other countries in terms of extraditing those criminals to this country for proper punishment. 

Finally, let me just ask, Mr. DeMore, a couple of weeks ago I 

filed a bill called the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act 

of 2003, which I hope will restart the discussion about a guest 

worker program in this country. I simply want to ask you: If Congress is able to come up with a legal means for people to come from 

other countries to this country to work and then to return to their 

home country with the money that they have earned, will that relieve some of the pressure that we feel now because people feel like 

they have no means to get here legally, so they simply turn themselves over to human smugglers and others who have no concern 

for them at all? 

Mr. DEMORE. Sir, if the Congress were to be so inclined, we 

would work with the Congress to make sure that whatever methodology was imposed would be—we would safeguard the national security interests in the context of working with you. 

Senator CORNYN. And I do not mean to put you on the spot to 

ask you to endorse some legislation, but it just makes sense to me, 

Mr. Chairman, if there was some legal means for people who wanted to come here and work and then return to their country, then 

there would be less people who would turn their lives over to these 

human smugglers and suffer perhaps death and horrible injury in 

the process, because they really feel like they have no other way 

to get here. 

Thank you very much. 

16

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you, Senator, and I would like to associate myself with your comments about trying to create some 

order out of chaos. The market forces are what we are talking 

about. There are many industries in this country that rely on the 

illegal alien workforce, the immigrant workforce. There are many 

jobs in America that are being filled by this demographic group, 

and if we could find a way to make it so that you could come and 

it would be a win-win, help the American economy, help the individual involved lawfully enter the country, lawfully leave, save 

some lives, I think that is a must before we can ever get our hands 

around this problem. 

But what I want to talk about is in 2000 we passed the Victims 

of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which I think is a great 

thing to have done. The reason I wanted to have the hearing is to 

sort of inventory where we are at, what can we do to supplement 

your efforts to enforce this Act, what deficiencies have we seen in 

the Act, and sort of give you a chance to make a shopping list. If 

you could, what would you change about it? 

The first question I have, Mr. Malcolm, is: Human trafficking, I 

think I understand after your testimony, is different from alien 

smuggling. Alien smuggling, you take money and your job is to get 

them here. And once that job is complete, they sever the connection. The way you make your money in human trafficking is you 

take somebody against their will, and you use their body or their 

services to make money. You make slaves out of them, you sexually 

exploit them or other things to get money out of them. 

Does the death penalty apply in a situation where somebody is 

involved in human trafficking and a death results? 

Mr. MALCOLM. Actually, Senator, in terms of traffickers, you can 

make money both ways. You can promise—get people here by 

fraud, giving them false promises and extort a fee from them, and 

then get them here and enslave them. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Right. 

Mr. MALCOLM. The answer to your question is no, there is no 

death penalty provision for human trafficking. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Would you suggest that we embark upon 

making that a death penalty offense if someone dies as a result of 

that activity? 

Mr. MALCOLM. I wouldn’t want, Senator, to commit prematurely 

on behalf of the administration. However, as you said in your opening statement, you weren’t sure why—whether there was a principled reason for a difference between the two, and I can’t see one 

either. 

Indeed, both alien-smuggled victims and traffic victims are subjected to horrendous risks while being transported here. Once they 

get to the destination countries, alien-smuggled victims are frequently set free; whereas, for traffic victims, the danger and horrors for them are just beginning. 

Chairman GRAHAM. I am just speaking for myself. It seems between two classes of cases, the people that would be the best candidates for the death penalty are someone who seizes by force or 

coercion or trickery and enslaves someone and makes their money 

from abusing their body or abusing their services. And if you could 

17

get back and check with your superiors about that, I would like to 

have this Committee looking into changing—I guess it’s Title 18? 

Mr. MALCOLM. Yes, that’s correct. 

Chairman GRAHAM. And make sure that the death penalty applies in both situations. 

Mr. MALCOLM. We’d be happy to work with you on that, Senator. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. 

Mr. MALCOLM. The only thing I would say is that with respect 

to smuggling organizations as opposed to traffickers, those are the 

routes that are used by terrorists so they service somewhat different audiences, but they’re equally pernicious crimes and we’re 

happy to work with you. 

Chairman GRAHAM. I appreciate that very, very much. 

Mr. DeMore, Senator Cornyn sort of asked a question about legal 

changes in terms of how people come, to have a route to get people 

here where they can actually help the economy and return to their 

home country and it would be a win-win. What is your opinion of 

an immigration change where people would have a route to come 

to America for the purpose of working temporarily, then going back 

to the country of origin? 

Mr. DEMORE. Sir, I think that’s a dialogue that should certainly 

take place, and we would be most happy, as I said before, to engage 

you in that discussion and do so in a way that would be consistent 

with ensuring the integrity of the American immigration process. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Now, this is a global problem, as you have 

demonstrated. Is there any particular country that is more friendly 

to this type activity than others? Is there a particular regime out 

there where, if you are a human trafficker or a human smuggler, 

this is a good place to work from? 

Mr. DEMORE. I wouldn’t look at a particular country from the 

context of the government providing any kind of safe haven, but 

there are areas where foreign government officials are sometimes 

exploited by the alien smugglers, and anywhere where there is a 

deteriorating economy, government officials are more subject to 

being corrupted and lends itself to the basic kinds of places where 

you would expect to see alien smugglers operate relatively freely, 

certain countries in Asia, South America, Central America, the 

Caribbean. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Chief Harris, if we move people to Canada, 

the main reason we are doing that is to try to prevent people who 

are of the terrorist mentality from having easier access? 

Mr. HARRIS. As I mentioned in our opening statement, our mission, the mission of Border Patrol, has remained virtually unchanged. Our responsibility is to patrol the border between the 

ports of entry. But our priority mission within that and part of 

Customs and Border Protection is the prevention of terrorism and 

entry of terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. 

Chairman GRAHAM. My question is: Generally speaking, Canadians are not flooding the borders. Canadians are not coming 

across in great droves. Why are we moving people to the Canadian 

border? 

Mr. HARRIS. The U.S.-Mexico border is 2,000 miles. The U.S.-

Canada border is 4,000 miles, so it is twice the length, a lot of vast, 

open terrain. Prior to the attacks of September 11th, we had about 

18

368 Border Patrol agents who were responsible for patrolling that 

4,000 miles, certainly inadequate, but our strategy was to put the 

bulk of our resources where we saw the majority of the illegal immigration problem, which was along the Southwest border. But certainly the attacks of September 11th changed our Nation and our 

agency. You know, it’s never going to be the same again. 

So we recognized fully that the Northern border, even though we 

didn’t have the volume, it represented a vulnerability and that we 

needed to do something to close that gap. Congress passed the PATRIOT Act stating that we needed to triple the amount of resources on the Northern border. We certainly intended to do that. 

Last year, we put 245 additional agents up there. Commissioner 

Bonner recently directed us to deploy additional agents. We think 

those thousand agents, together with additional technology that we 

are putting up there, the camera systems and the sensors, is going 

to provide us with a degree of detection and response capability 

along that 4,000-mile border that we never did have before. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Was the border a place where people involved in human trafficking would come down from Canada? Has 

that ever been a serious problem in the past? 

Mr. HARRIS. I have seen and read some reports about, for example—I’ll give you an example—saying that the cost of an airline 

ticket from Mexico to Canada was less expensive than paying a 

smuggler $1,000 or $2,000. So the possibility existed that, you 

know, people were flying up to the Canadian—into Canada and 

then crossing the U.S.-Mexico—or U.S.-Canada border. But I have 

not seen that. The statistics, the intelligence that we have is— 

Chairman GRAHAM. There is no data to suggest that— 

Mr. HARRIS. Does not prove that out. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Right. 

Mr. HARRIS. On average, we make about 13,000 arrests a year 

along the Northern border, but about 70 percent of those are aliens 

who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and then migrated up North 

and they were apprehended by our agents on patrol there. So not 

a lot of people crossing, but a very long border that needs to be patrolled. I mean, it does represent a vulnerability. We’re trying to 

shore that up a bit. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Well, the last question I have I will address 

to each of you. We are a couple of years into the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, and if you could, just as briefly 

as possible but not cutting yourself short, tell us how you believe 

the Act is working and what would you like to see changed. And 

I know you may not give us a full answer now, but what I would 

suggest is go back to your agency, inventory among yourselves, sit 

down and think about it a while, and kind of give us a list. What 

would you like to see us do in terms of legal changes or structural 

changes to make this Act more effective? And that is an open invitation. 

Mr. Malcolm, could you tell us generally how the Act is working 

and what you would like to see changed, if anything? 

Mr. MALCOLM. In terms of the changes, Senator, we’ll get back 

to you. In terms of how it’s working, the answer is, in short, very 

well. The Act doubled sentences that were potentially available, 

made immigration benefits, medical benefits, available to victims of 

19

severe forms of trafficking. We have more open cases. The hotline 

is working extremely well. The Act provided for an annual report 

by the State Department, the tracking persons report, which ranks 

countries. Countries that are so-called tier three countries have to 

improve their anti-trafficking effort or face potential assistance 

sanctions, and that’s provided a great incentive for them to cooperate with our efforts. The Act is working very well. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. DeMore? 

Mr. DEMORE. I agree with my colleague. We’ve received over 450 

applications. We’ve approved 172, 238 pending. I’m not aware of 

any immediate needs for structural change to make it better, but 

I’ll certainly dialogue with my colleagues that are involved in this 

daily and see if we can come up with some suggestions. 

Chairman GRAHAM. And if you could give us some information 

about sentencing behavior, that is very important to me because I 

want to talk with the Sentencing Guideline folks and make sure 

that we are addressing what I think appears to be a deficiency, 

that the average sentences for many of these cases without injury 

is very, very low, and you are not taking the incentive out of doing 

this. If you could do that, I would appreciate it. 

Chief Harris? 

Mr. HARRIS. A couple of comments, Mr. Chairman. First, I appreciate the opportunity to go back and take a look at it and come 

back to the Committee with some recommendations. 

Second, I would just say that in the areas where we do have better control of the border, as I had mentioned, our strategy is based 

on a deterrence strategy. And when we bring those arrest numbers 

down, it puts us in a better position to be able to enforce the rule 

of law. Obviously, we probably make more arrests than any other 

law enforcement agency in the world, and we recognize fully that 

the U.S. Attorney’s Office cannot prosecute everybody who we arrest. But certainly in those areas where we do have better control 

of the border, we have excellent cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and I think we’re making a lot of progress there. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Well, please tell your officers we realize how 

dangerous their job is. It is one of the most dangerous jobs in law 

enforcement, and we appreciate their sacrifice and service to our 

country. And that is true of all of you, everyone, because I know 

this is a very tough business that you are trying to combat. 

Senator Cornyn, do you have any further questions? 

Senator CORNYN. I just had a couple questions in conclusion. 

Chief Harris, I know we were talking about the number that Border Patrol catches each year, and I wonder if you would please 

after the hearing go back and try to provide us an answer, the Border Patrol’s best estimate of about how many people come across 

the border that, for one reason or another, you are unable to catch 

and they do come into the country illegally each year. Would you 

get that information for us, please? 

Mr. HARRIS. Yes. 

Senator CORNYN. And then you mentioned—did I hear you correctly? You said there are now a thousand Border Patrol agents on 

the 4,000-mile U.S.-Canadian border? 

Mr. HARRIS. They’re not there yet, Senator. This was just directed. We have gone out with the initial job announcements. We 

20

are making selections for those positions now, but we’re shooting 

to have those thousand agents up on the border by the end of this 

year. 

Senator CORNYN. And how many are there now? 

Mr. HARRIS. About 600. 

Senator CORNYN. Six hundred. And do you know how many 

agents are on the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border? 

Mr. HARRIS. Approximately 9,500. 

Senator CORNYN. And I know we have talked to Mr. Hutchinson 

and others about employing technology, including things like unmanned aerial vehicles. America is the leader in technologies. A lot 

of the things that we have used to supplement and augment our 

human resources, I think, are going to be more helpful so that you 

do not have to literally have an agent posted every few feet on the 

border. No one is suggesting that that would be a good alternative. 

But I am hopeful that we will be able to employ the most modern 

technology we have to be able to assist you in doing what I think 

we all recognize is a terribly difficult and challenging job. 

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAHAM. I thank the panel. It was very informative. 

Thank you all for coming very, very much. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very much for coming to our 

hearing today. We look forward to your testimony. 

If you would please rise, I will swear you all in. Raise your right 

hand, please. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about 

to give the Committee is the whole truth and nothing but the 

truth, so help you God? 

Mr. CHARLTON. I do. 

Ms. BOYLE. I do. 

Ms. COHN. I do. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Again, welcome. Welcome to the Committee. 

I found the first panel very informative, and I look forward to hearing from your perspective. If you do not mind, we will just do opening statements, and then Senator Cornyn and I will have a dialogue with you. 

We will start with you, ma’am. 

STATEMENT OF SHARON B. COHN, SENIOR COUNSEL, 

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Ms. COHN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this important hearing on alien smuggling and human trafficking. My name 

is Sharon Cohn, and I serve as senior counsel and director of antitrafficking operations for the Institutional Justice Mission, and we 

believe that the question of meaningful deterrence is the crucial 

issue in human trafficking. I’m grateful to this Committee for the 

opportunity to share a little bit about what we’ve learned at the 

IJM through its field experience around the world. 

IJM deploys criminal investigators in cities around the globe to 

infiltrate brothels, use surveillance technology to document where 

victims are located, and then we identify secure police contacts who 

will conduct raids with us to rescue the victims and arrest the perpetrators. We then coordinate the referral of victims to appropriate 

after-care and support and monitor the prosecutions. 

21

The IJM investigators have spent literally thousands of hours infiltrating the sex trafficking industry and working with government 

authorities around the world to bring effective rescue to the victims 

and accountability to the perpetrators. Through this, I think we 

have gained some valuable insight as to what provides for meaningful deterrence to brothel keepers and traffickers. I’ll limit my remarks to sex trafficking, accordingly. 

It’s estimated that there are between 18,000 and 50,000 women 

and girls trafficked into the United States each year. As Federal 

and local law enforcement agencies and the Justice Department 

vigorously investigate and prosecute the offenders in the United 

States, we believe that it is critical that they assist in addressing 

the issue within a global context. 

Like narcotics and arms smuggling, trafficking in persons for 

sexual exploitation is a multinational crime. Similar to the drug 

trafficker caught on the borders of the United States, the sex trafficker is part of a series of transactions which includes players in 

the country of origin, the country of transit, and the country of destination. So in order to effectively disrupt this market, intelligence 

must be transferred back to both the source and transit country. 

And then it is just so vitally important that national and local 

law enforcement in foreign-source countries have the political will 

and have the resources to combat trafficking, because our experience has taught us fundamentally this: Sex trafficking reaches the 

United States because it is tolerated by local law enforcement in 

countries around the world. In cities around the globe, millions of 

women and girls are trafficked and offered to customers in brothels. And every day millions of customers around the world find 

these girls. 

In fact, it does not good at all for brothel keepers to keep the victims hidden. To make money on these transactions, they have to 

hold these victims out to the public not just once but continually 

day after day for sexual exploitation. Obviously, therefore, if the 

customers can find the victims, it stands to reason that the police 

can as well. 

How, therefore, do you possibly succeed in committing this crime 

over and over again, day after day, in front of the open public? You 

do so only if permitted by local law enforcement, and generally this 

is facilitated by bringing the police into the business and sharing 

the profits with them in exchange for protection against the enforcement of laws that are in place and consider all of these a 

crime. 

This truth is most tragically demonstrated through the lives of 

the little ones that we have had the privilege to assist in rescuing. 

I want to tell you a little bit about a friend of mine named Simla, 

who was raised in a village off a main road to a small city in Asia. 

When she was 14, a woman in the village sold her to a trafficker. 

She was told she’d be working in a restaurant in the city. When 

the trafficker brought her to the city, she was sold to a brothel and 

told she would have to have sex with customers in order to pay off 

the debt—a debt that wasn’t hers but was acquired to her when 

she was sold by the trafficker to the brothel. 

For two and a half years, Simla was subjected to sexual assaults, 

multiple times a day. She was beaten when she cried, she was 

22

beaten when she was sleepy for the customers, and she was beaten 

when she said she wanted to go home. But the worst beating that 

she ever received, the one that made it difficult for her to walk, 

was the beating she received the day after a police officer complained that she didn’t smile after he had finished raping her. He 

would come to the brothel regularly to receive his payment for providing protection for the brothel, and sometimes he would rape the 

girls instead of receiving cash payment. Simla’s friends in the 

brothel, who were also children, confirmed that other offices regularly visited the brothel and abused the girls. 

IJM investigators identified her and others in the brothel as minors and brought this to the attention of local law enforcement. On 

the night of the raid, a police officer called the brothel keeper and 

told her that they were coming. The brothel was empty of children 

by the time we arrived. The children later told us that they had 

been—they had received a phone call, that they had been loaded 

on the back of a flat-bed truck, covered with a blanket, and driven 

across town. Ultimately, senior police officials communicated down 

the chain of command that the children must be found and released, and Simla and her friends were rescued by the authorities 

later that day. 

In fact, just 2 weeks ago, my colleagues in the field received information concerning a case where the police are not only providing 

protection for the brothel but, in fact, were employed by the brothel 

to find and return two girls who had escaped from the brothel. The 

police returned to the two girls, beaten, and these girls were subsequently shot and killed by the brothel keeper. 

Stories like these are repeated throughout the world where local 

law enforcement do the bidding of traffickers and brothel keepers. 

Without police protection, the brothel keeper cannot succeed, and 

with it, he simply cannot fail. Once the police switch sides, the 

brothel is fatally vulnerable and effective law enforcement can provide rescue and secure arrests. Until they do, it is the girls that 

are fatally vulnerable. 

So, in the end, the brothel keepers only care about two government actions: Is the government seriously threatening to actually 

put me in jail for this crime? And is the government seriously 

threatening to remove the police protection that I have paid for? 

What can the U.S. Government do to create a meaningful deterrent for sex traffickers? On the domestic front, we believe the U.S. 

Government should fully utilize the Federal witness protection program to provide resources to adequately protect family members of 

cooperating victims who continue to live at risk in source countries. 

All law enforcement depends upon the cooperation of victims, and 

the United States has the opportunity to set the standard for the 

world by the way we treat the women and girls who are trafficked 

into this country. By employing the T visas and providing witness 

protection, authorities can create a safe environment for cooperation. 

Second, we believe the United States must aggressively prosecute 

sex tourists who create the demand for trafficking victims. We commend Congress for passing the PROTECT Act, which frees the U.S. 

Attorney’s Offices to vigorously prosecute sex crimes committed by 

Americans abroad. We must encourage prosecution and conviction 

23

of these criminals and the subsequent media coverage to deter 

other would-be criminals. 

We had a recent experience in Cambodia that is more fully explained in my written testimony, but, in short, I will tell you the 

multinational aspect of this crime and American culpability is well 

displayed in this case, where little girls as young as 5 years old are 

trafficked from Vietnam into Cambodia. American sex tourists, who 

learn about this place from the Internet and from Internet chat 

rooms and websites, travel to Cambodia specifically for the purpose 

of sexually exploiting these little girls. 

We worked with the Cambodian authorities and with Ambassador Charles Ray in order to secure the rescue of 37 girls, the 

youngest of whom was 5 years old, and the arrest of 16 perpetrators who are now charged under Cambodian law and are awaiting 

trial. 

In addition, U.S. Customs is following leads resulting from the 

raid, and we are hopeful that an investigation will result in convictions of identified American sex tourists. 

It’s hard for me to describe to you, Senators, how horrible it is 

to sit and talk to these girls and have them describe to me how it 

was the Americans who made them sleep with them, it was the 

Americans who they had to spend time in bed with, it’s the Americans who they were forced to service, and they were beaten in 

order to do so. It is simply imperative that the United States crush 

the demand that’s created by its own citizenry. 

Third, we would encourage Federal law enforcement agencies to 

continue to communicate through joint training initiatives and 

funding that sex trafficking is a priority issue for the United States 

and that it’s a violent crime worthy of attention of elite law enforcement. 

Law enforcement priorities are set by senior-level political authorities. Where the United States encourages engagement on a 

senior level, it will be able to influence the priority and conduct of 

street-level enforcement. Like counter-narcotic initiatives, the 

United States should commit to invest significant financial and 

personnel resources to ramp up and improve counter-trafficking 

initiatives overseas. 

And, finally, we would just encourage the United States to improve its information-sharing mechanisms with foreign-source 

countries so that law enforcement attaches in the United States 

embassies overseas will receive the information that is obtained 

through thorough debriefings of victims and suspects here in the 

United States and be able to convey that to local law enforcement 

overseas. 

We just believe the United States has the capacity to create a 

meaningful deterrence, not limited to its own borders, through 

proactive engagement with law enforcement in foreign countries, 

and we are very appreciative for the Subcommittee for calling this 

hearing. 

Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Cohn appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very, very much. We have a lot 

of questions for you, I think. 

24

Ms. Boyle, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF JANE J. BOYLE, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, DALLAS, TEXAS 

Ms. BOYLE. Thank you. Chairman Graham, Senator Cornyn, I 

am Jane Boyle, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. I will tell you that it is an honor to appear here before you today to recount a recent case in my district that illustrates the tragedy of the human trafficking form of alien smuggling 

and I also think typifies the difficulties that are posed to prosecutors in prosecuting cases of this nature. 

Let me go back to the beginning. In early April 2002, the FBI 

and former INS, along with many factions of local law enforcement, 

initiated a joint investigation into what we dubbed ‘‘the Molina organization.’’ Through the investigation, we learned that between 

December of 1998 and May of 2002, the organization smuggled approximately 200 impoverished young Honduran females into the 

United States. Some of these young ladies were as young as 14, we 

think perhaps even as young as 13. 

We also were able to determine from the investigation that the 

Molinas enticed these young women, and their families to allow 

them to go, into going by promising them a better life in the United 

States, work as housekeepers and nannies and waitresses. To prevail on their impoverished parents to let them take the trip and 

make the change in life, they did make this promise to the parents, 

but they also required that the parents, in order for this benefit 

they promised the girls were going to get, pay a large sum, which 

caused many of them to give up the deeds to their property in 

order to finance the trip. 

By all of the girls’ accounts, Senators, the trip from Honduras to 

Fort Worth was horrific for these young ladies. They described 

firsthand spending weeks traveling through mountains and 

deserts, walking at night to avoid detection, and often going several 

days without even any food or water. 

To enter the United States from Mexico, some of them were located into wooden compartments installed under trucks. They were 

packed in these compartments, some of them, head to toe for as 

long as 10 hours. Many, as you might expect, even urinated on 

themselves in the process, and many suffered injuries. 

Upon arrival in Fort Worth, what they thought was the promised 

land of jobs as waitresses turned into them immediately being 

clothed in risque outfits, and this was immediate, and then compelled to work in one of four Fort Worth area bars controlled by 

the Molinas. Some of the young women were coerced into prostitution, and others were required to what they, I would say, loosely 

described as ‘‘dance’’ with customers, the male customers, to encourage the sale of overpriced drinks. And we’re talking about $10 

beers, I think is what the facts were. 

They earned $100 for a mandatory 60-hour work week, all of 

which was applied to their exorbitant smuggling debt. They earned 

nothing at all if they didn’t meet the 200 per week quota of selling 

drinks. 

Undercover agents—and these are veteran FBI agents and 

former INS agents—who saw the young women in the bars were 

25

struck and moved by the frightened and upset faces that characterized these little girls. Some of them described them as huddled together, once they go there and realized what it is they were going 

to be doing for a living, huddled together holding hands in the middle of the bar. And the agents were as moved as I’ve ever seen Federal agents working undercover. 

The women were forced through intimidation to live in residences during this time under the Molinas’ control, and some of 

their debts were as high as $10,000 and $12,000 that they had to 

repay before they were allowed to leave. Many were verbally 

abused and intimidated with threats of capture by immigration authorities. And, again, the Molinas also threatened to take the victims’ families’ properties—you can imagine these were not lavish 

properties, what they had—from their families in Honduras if they 

didn’t pay off their debts. 

We determined that the smuggling operation the Molinas controlled was very lucrative and quite sophisticated. Without getting 

into great detail, we found that during the time period that we 

watched the investigation, approximately $1.7 million was wire 

transferred from locations throughout the United States to Molina 

smugglers throughout Latin America and in North America. 

The investigation culminated in the execution of search warrants 

and administrative inspections of several bars and restaurants in 

Fort Worth. In all, we detained 93 individuals out of the arrests 

and search warrants; 34 of those we determined to be actually the 

smuggling victims. 

Thirteen defendants, three of which are now fugitives, were eventually charged with various violations of the Federal immigration 

laws, including smuggling illegal aliens into the United States, our 

familiar Section 1324 of Title 18 statute. Five of the defendants 

were also charged under the TVPA, which I will say as an aside 

has been a wonderful tool for prosecutors since it’s been enacted. 

Ten members of the organization that we were able to capture and 

charge pled guilty to the smuggling charges. Their sentences were 

around 5 years, some over, most under 5 years in prison. 

I want to, if I could for just a minute, detail the difficulties the 

prosecution team, Richard Roper and Rose Romero, faced during 

the course of the case, if I could have just a minute, Senators. 

Several of the victims’ families were threatened by Honduras—

were threatened in Honduras by fugitive defendants and their accomplices. The Molinas threatened to burn the victims’ family 

members’ houses or even kill them if their daughters testified once 

we were arrested and charged the individuals. Unfortunately, we 

could not guarantee the safety of the families in Honduras, and as 

a result, many of the young women were intimidated and reluctant 

to testify against their traffickers. 

The second barrier that we faced, which is characteristic of cases 

of this nature, is we faced a formidable cultural barrier with respect to the forced prostitution charges. Most of these young ladies 

came from strict, conservative, Catholic homes and refused to publicly admit that they’d been forced to engage in nefarious activities 

such as prostitution. And that stymied our ability to charge them 

under the TVPA as we would have preferred, all of the defendants. 

26

More problems arose when three of the defendants and several 

material witnesses fled to Honduras, and we determined that the 

extradition treaty between the United States and Honduras prohibited their extradition. 

Despite these difficulties—and our efforts to rescue the victims I 

believe were successful, Senators—nearly all of the 34 trafficking 

victims we have been able to, through the great benefit of the 

TVPA, involve them in what we’ve called the continued presence 

program, which is a benefit Congress has given us under the 

TVPA. They are receiving assistance and hopefully working down 

the road towards a visa in the United States. But, again, that’s 

through the benefit of the TVPA. 

I thank you for your time and attention and your indulgence, and 

I appreciate the opportunity to speak and welcome any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Boyle appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. Charlton? 

STATEMENT OF PAUL K. CHARLTON, UNITED STATES 

ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF ARIZONA, PHOENIX, ARIZONA 

Mr. CHARLTON. Chairman Graham, Senator Cornyn, good morning. My name is Paul Charlton. I am the United States Attorney 

from the District of Arizona. I’d like to begin by telling you what 

a distinct honor and a privilege it is to be here today to share with 

you some of the cases and some of the events that have taken place 

in the District of Arizona as they relate to alien smuggling. These 

cases raise concerns about the appropriateness of the penalties for 

alien smuggling under the current Sentencing Guidelines, particularly in cases that involve the risk of serious injury, death, or that 

actually result in injury and death. It’s my understanding, Senators, that the Sentencing Commission is currently looking towards 

adjusting some of those sentencing guidelines, and I look forward 

to the Department of Justice, the Congress, and the Sentencing 

Commission addressing this very important issue and am thankful 

to you and your leadership for bringing this issue to our attention 

as well and giving us the opportunity to discuss this with you. 

The District of Arizona faces especially daunting challenges in 

combating alien smuggling. The risks inherent in transporting 

human beings through the harsh and unforgiving desert of southern Arizona, as well as the increasing violence in smuggling, has 

resulted in a disturbing humanitarian crisis. 

In my written statements, Senators, I’ve provided a number of 

case examples that show the disparity between sentences that an 

individual can receive in human trafficking cases and human 

smuggling cases. But, Senator, because your questions and yours, 

Senator, have focused on the idea of an inequity especially in 

human smuggling cases as opposed to human trafficking cases, I 

will, with your permission, address my comments here now to 

those cases and the disparities in sentences that relate only to 

human smuggling cases. 

In the case of United States v. Miguel and Johnson, the prosecuting attorney, Sara Tessakai, in the United States Attorney’s 

Office charged the defendants with three counts of alien smuggling 

involving risk of death where they had transported three children 

27

in the trunk of a vehicle during a hot July afternoon in Tucson, Arizona. One of the minors was found unconscious, unresponsive, and 

had to be revived by medical personnel called out to the scene. The 

defendants pled guilty to the indictment without benefit of a plea 

agreement, and yet they receives sentences of only 21 and 37 

months, respectively. 

In another cases, United States v. Alderette-Moreno and LoeraChavez, two defendants smuggling 19 illegal aliens instructed the 

aliens to get into a van, where they were required to lie on the floor 

of the vehicle and literally pile one on top of the other for lack of 

room. And the van door was broken and did not close, so that one 

of the aliens had to hold that door closed while the vehicle was in 

motion. When one of the van’s tires blew, the vehicle rolled, killing 

the man who was holding the door and permanently paralyzing another alien from the neck down and seriously injuring other occupants of the van. Again, the defendants pled guilty, without benefit 

of a plea agreement, to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and 

alien smuggling where death resulted. One defendant was sentenced to 48 months, the other defendant to 57 months’ incarceration. 

Finally, in United States v. Diego Gallegos Castillo, after walking 4 to 8 hours in the southern deserts of Arizona near the Tohono 

O’Odham Indian Reservation, and remaining in the wash for a full 

day and a night, a large group of aliens was picked up by smugglers who instructed them to pile into a pickup truck. Approximately 11 aliens piled into the bed of the truck while three entered 

the extended cab, which did not have a seat, and where a 14-yearold was required to lay across the laps of a number of individuals. 

While the vehicle was traveling at approximately 87 to 93 miles 

per hour, the truck flipped over into a wash and resulted in the 

deaths of four aliens. Serious injuries were sustained by the surviving aliens. This case went to trial, Senators, and the defendants 

were found guilty of 11 counts of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death or serious bodily injury. The defendant was sentenced 

to 72 months’ incarceration. 

I hope the cases I have presented for your review have been helpful for evaluation of the current state of the Sentencing Guidelines 

with respect to alien smuggling cases. 

Thank you, Senators, for your time and attention to this very important issue. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Charlton appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Cornyn? 

Senator CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to first direct questions to Mr. Charlton and Ms. 

Boyle about cooperative efforts with local and State law enforcement authorities. I think we have heard from the first panel that 

the Federal Government probably cannot do all this by itself, including those of you who are the front-line prosecutors for Federal 

law violations. 

But, Ms. Boyle, would you perhaps, in the Molina case that you 

described, talk about the role, if any, of local and State law enforcement authorities to complement the work that you did, and if there 

was not an involvement of those law enforcement officials, whether 

28

you think that would be beneficial or whether you would consider 

that to be problematic for some reason? 

Ms. BOYLE. Senator, let me tell you first generally that State, 

local, and Federal authorities have never been—have never worked 

as well together as they have since September the 11th on all 

fronts. 

In this particular case, to hone in on that, I don’t know that we 

would have gotten the investigation off dead center if we hadn’t 

had tips that were initially given in 2001 to the Fort Worth Police 

Department. I believe they received some anonymous letters. They 

were extremely cooperative, and this is the Dallas Police Department, the Fort Worth Police Department in particular, and the 

sheriff’s offices of both cities, were very, very involved in our efforts 

in the Molina case with the former INS and the FBI. 

We could not have done this without the efforts of those local 

agencies. They helped us plan the operation. Probably the most 

crucial part of this operation was what we call the raid, and that 

was the evening that we went in under very precarious circumstances. You’re going to bars at night with all sorts of individuals frequenting them. So under very precarious circumstances, we 

planned this together with the local law enforcement authorities, 

and it turned out very successful. But we could not have done it 

without their help, without their intelligence. Their intelligence 

was very key. We are finding these days that local law enforcement 

play a crucial role in providing us the intelligence we need to carry 

out major Federal operations. So this was a perfect example of 

that. 

So, from my experience in the Molina case, it’s a prime example 

of the great work of local law enforcement and their contribution 

to our effort. 

Senator CORNYN. Mr. Charlton, what about your experience? 

Mr. CHARLTON. Senator, in April of this year, we initiated in our 

district Operation Desert Risk, which was our attempt to address 

the very issue that you are talking about, Senator. We invited 

State, local and Tribal law enforcement officials to join Federal law 

enforcement officials in addressing the issue of alien smuggling on 

the border. 

We received a very good response from State, local and Tribal 

law enforcement officials because everyone recognizes that alien 

smuggling is not just a Federal problem or issue. It is a problem 

which affects all of our local communities as well and begins to affect the quality of life issues for our State, local and Tribal law enforcement officers and the community. 

We are continuing this operation through the summer months, 

which are our most critical months in Arizona, and we will terminate this operation in October, after which we will look at the data 

which we have collected to determine whether or not we have, in 

fact, seen an effective reduction in the kinds of crimes, both in 

smuggling and in collateral offenses that surround smuggling offenses in the District of Arizona. 

Senator CORNYN. As Ms. Boyle knows, in Texas, when I was in 

a previous life as attorney general of Texas, we worked closely, as 

State law enforcement officials, with local and Federal authorities 

on gun crime, and it was a—what we encountered, before we initiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:50 Feb 19, 2004 Jkt 091788 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\91788.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
29

ated the Texas exile program is what, frankly, I think what the 9/

11 report demonstrated, Mr. Chairman, at the Federal level is we 

were not playing as well together as we should or working as well 

together as we should, and I know I am gratified to hear what both 

of you have said about the work that you are doing, but we just 

have to figure a way to get more resources into the game, and particularly when we are talking about homeland security, we are 

talking about these horrific crimes that you described, I just think 

we need to do everything we can in the Congress to encourage and, 

indeed, to require that sort of cooperative effort. 

One area that I know has been, it does not necessarily relate or 

it might, to some extent, to what we have been talking about here 

today, but it is simple information sharing. And you mentioned the 

intelligence, Ms. Boyle, that you received from local law enforcement officials. Well, the problem is, I am afraid, too many times 

it comes from the bottom up, but it does not come from the top 

down. In other words, Federal intelligence agencies do not share information not only with one another, but they do not share it with 

State and local law enforcement officials, and I know there are concerns with regard to maintaining the confidentiality of that information, but there are certainly methods to eliminate the most sensitive information and provide the functional information that is 

needed in order to fulfill the most complete role possible when it 

comes to dealing with crimes of this nature and other nature as 

well. 

Ms. Boyle, in terms of the organization of the Molina organization, would you describe for us, I mean, are we talking about sort 

of the mules, I mean, the low-level people that you were able to 

successfully prosecute. You said some remained in Honduras and 

otherwise. Were you able to cut the head off the snake or were you 

dealing with some lower-level people or some combination? 

Ms. BOYLE. We did get four individuals that we believe were at 

the top of the organization, Senator, as well as the mules. Again, 

thanks to all of the intelligence that we were able to gather. It is 

a very lucrative business, and it is operating out of a very poor 

country, so the incentive is almost impossible to stop someone’s inclination towards getting involved in that. 

I believe this organization was fairly well bashed. I will tell you, 

though, that that does not mean others will not spring up in its 

place, but I think we just have to be ready to go after them when 

they do and make sure they know that the United States will not 

tolerate this kind of crime. 

But we were able to get individuals at the top of the organization, I believe at the very top, and for reasons I can easily and 

would be glad to get into, however, we were not able to secure the 

types of sentences I think that these individuals deserved. 

Senator CORNYN. You said they were 5 years, on the order of 5 

years? 

Ms. BOYLE. They were. We had one over five and I think three 

others that were slightly under five. 

Senator CORNYN. I agree with you that, given the nature of the 

offense, that that does not seem like a proportional sentence, and 

we would be interested in learning more about your suggestions as 

to what we can do to address that. 

30

Ms. Cohn, let me, as the father of two daughters, I must tell you, 

and just as a human being, the story that you conveyed about sex 

trafficking and what we might be able to do about it is chilling. I 

guess my question to you, though, is if there are Americans who 

are committing these offenses in foreign countries, what sorts of 

things specifically can we do, this Congress do, recognizing that 

things that happen in foreign countries are difficult for our laws to 

reach, what sorts of things can we do, in your opinion, to get at 

and address those sorts of heinous acts? 

Ms. COHN. Senator Cornyn, the Congress has graciously and brilliantly, I think, passed the Protect Act, which changes the sex tourism law that was currently on the books. The old law required that 

the U.S. Attorney’s Office be able to demonstrate that a sex tourist 

traveled overseas for the purpose of exploiting, committing a sexual 

crime, but they had to prove that the intent was formed in the 

United States in order to secure the jurisdictional hook. 

The new Protect Act takes that away and simply requires that 

the U.S. Attorney’s Office prove that an individual traveled overseas and committed an act, and removes that intent requirement 

domestically. The old requirement sort of suggested that the FBI 

investigators would be able to find neighbors of the sex tourists in 

Oklahoma or somewhere and have them say, yes, he told me he 

was going overseas to have sex with a 6-year-old—very difficult to 

prove. 

Now, that is gone, and all you have to prove is that the person 

did, in fact, travel to Cambodia, have sex that was illegal in the 

United States, for example, sex with a minor, and you can prosecute them here in the United States. And these are sex tourists 

who travel and come back. They are businessmen. They are doctors 

or lawyers. They travel, spend a lot of money to commit a crime 

they do not believe they could get away with committing in the 

United States, so they travel overseas to commit that crime, and 

now I think Congress has given the Department of Justice the tools 

that it needs to convict them here in the United States. 

I should also add that it really, in my opinion, only takes a few 

meaningful convictions to create that deterrent effect that you were 

talking about because these areas get known, for example, this 

area of Svay Pak in Cambodia, become known because of websites 

and Internet chat rooms. 

The example of how effective the deterrents can be is after we 

were able to secure the raid in Cambodia and rescue the girls and 

have the perpetrators arrested, the Internet chat rooms that cover 

that area called Svay Pak were saying the party is over in Cambodia. And that is the kind of information flow that you want to 

generate, and I think a few convictions here in the United States 

would send that message that sex tourism by Americans is not 

going to be permitted any more. 

Senator CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you, Senator Cornyn. 

For the record, we have a statement here from Senator Biden 

that I would like to introduce into the record and Senator Leahy, 

and we will hold open the ability of members to make written questions to the Subcommittee and to the witnesses for one week. 

31

I would just like to acknowledge Senator Cornyn’s contribution 

to making this hearing happen, and he has been a very good friend, 

a valuable ally and tried to bring some attention to this. So thank 

you very much, Senator Cornyn. 

Ms. Cohn, we will start with you. 

I am familiar with the Protect Act and what we are trying to accomplish, but it seems to me that the real gap is foreign countries, 

and their willingness to allow this to continue. Is there anything 

that you can think of, other than the Federal Witness Protection 

Program, where we can have people more forthcoming about prosecutions that we can do to bring more attention, and what countries are you talking about? 

Ms. COHN. Mr. Chairman, we work throughout the world, and I 

have spent a lot of time on sex trafficking in South Asia and Southeast Asia and would draw attention to those ares in particular, but 

I think that the TVPA that Attorney Boyle was discussing is one 

of those instruments that Congress has provided the U.S. Government to help combat trafficking by addressing foreign countries. 

The TVPA requires that the State Department rank countries’ 

performance in their efforts to combat sex trafficking, whether they 

are meeting minimum standards or whether they are making significant efforts to meet those standards to combat trafficking. 

I think that tier-rating system does help. I would be excited to 

see it employed more vigorously, particularly as the State Department examines how complicit Government officials are in those 

countries and whether those countries can provide evidence, documentation that they have disciplined corrupt police officials and 

that they have convicted brothel keepers and traffickers. 

Mr. Chairman, I would just sort of direct you to the TIP report, 

the Trafficking In Persons report, that just came out in June. And 

if you look through it, it is required to discuss the prosecutorial effectiveness in certain countries as they go against the traffickers 

and brothel keepers. And you will find in a great majority of countries, that prosecutions are abysmal, to an extent, difficult to articulate today, but that it is difficult, almost impossible, to secure 

a conviction in those countries. And I think that the U.S. Government, including this Congress, can, in all of its communications 

with those countries, demonstrate how serious the U.S. Government takes this issue and that failure to demonstrate that significant efforts are being taken in those countries to combat trafficking 

will lead to penalties and sanctions by the U.S. 

Chairman GRAHAM. If you could provide sort of your view of this 

to supplement the June report about what you think are the most 

egregious countries, in terms of lack of prosecution, I would appreciate it. 

What are the numbers that we are talking about of Americans 

who have been convicted for going overseas in sex tourism? 

Ms. COHN. I think the conviction numbers for Americans is dramatically low. I don’t have the numbers—I don’t have the numbers 

available, but— 

Chairman GRAHAM. Any idea of the volume of how big a business 

this is? 

32

Ms. COHN. I think I read a statistic that ECPAT, which is the 

End Child Prosecution and Trafficking NGO organization, I think 

estimates that 25 percent of sex tourists are Americans. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Do you have a number on that. Are we talking thousands of people? 

Ms. COHN. You are certainly talking thousands of people. I am 

not sure if you are talking more than that. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Boyle, the Fort Worth case I think illustrates some success 

and a problem, and that is the Honduran Government. I am very 

concerned about foreign countries’ willingness to help us address a 

global problem. At the end of the day, what kind of cooperation did 

you get from Honduras, if any? 

Ms. BOYLE. We did get some cooperation, Mr. Chairman. They 

did help us. At one point, some of our prosecutors, they did help 

us, Mr. Chairman, not to the extent we would have liked, but I will 

tell you they did not cut us off. 

They, at one point, some prosecutors and agents traveled down 

there to find out a little bit more about the threats to the families 

and that status, and they were able to at least witness in one situation an actual threat to a family member, and they were able to 

secure from local police what we call up here a protective order of 

that nature. I am not sure how effective it was outside of just the 

paper it was on, but they were helpful. 

I think the treaty hurt us without—because we could not get the 

extradition. I can’t compare them to other countries, but I have 

talked to the agents and the prosecutors before I left to ensure that 

I was aware of exactly where they stood on the Honduran Government’s cooperation, and they felt that they were cooperative. Their 

hands were somewhat tied by their own laws and really their lack 

of knowledge about the worldwide focus on this. 

But I also think, and I agree so much with Ms. Cohn on this 

very, very important provision of the TVPA, with the tiering of the 

countries, as long as that is focused on and enforced vigorously, I 

think that is going to be a big help to our Government to get other 

Governments to cooperate. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Ms. Cohen, ASEAN is a group of Asian Nations. Is there any counterpart to the Protect Act or the TVPA Act 

in Asia or Europe? 

Ms. COHN. Mr. Chairman, most all of the countries where we 

work have laws that prohibit the acts that we are talking about, 

in one manner or another, whether it is just prohibiting child rape 

or it is prohibiting kidnapping or prohibiting trafficking for fraud 

or more explicit or less explicit. The problem is actually not, generally not in what the statutory provisions are, as it might be in 

the U.S., that that constrains the U.S. attorneys, but rather that 

they are simply not enforced. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. Charlton, now, you mentioned some sentences that seem very low, given the activity involved. When the 

Sentencing Guideline Commission meets, will you have input as to 

how that should be changed, your organization? 

Mr. CHARLTON. Mr. Chairman, I am sure that through the Department of Justice we will have an opportunity to make our views 

and our perspectives known. 

33

Chairman GRAHAM. I am very interested in the Committee getting involved also in working with the Sentencing Guideline Commission. I will make the same offer I made to the last panel. We 

have statutes in place now that we did not have before. They seem 

to be working. They seem to empower you to do a better job. 

What I would like is sort of make your shopping list. Given that 

dynamic, what can we do to enhance the viability of these statutes 

and what things are left undone in terms of the law and resources 

and provide that input to the Committee, and we will try to meet 

your needs the very best we can. 

I understand, Ms. Cohn, you have some photos or some pictures. 

Ms. COHN. I have one photo just of Simla to help you appreciate 

her age. I did not bring photos of the small Cambodian, the Vietnamese children in Cambodia. She is currently in aftercare in 

Southeast Asia, and I just visited her not long ago. She is doing 

quite well. I would like to bring her to the States, at some point, 

but she is one of millions of girls who, through no fault or decisionmaking of their own, are simply taken advantage of by the greed 

of others, and law enforcement participates in that. 

And I should add only, because I have such great concern for her, 

that if the police are not directly complicit in actually killing these 

girls, as they are in the case where they are returned to the brothel 

keeper, and the brothel keeper shot them, they are complicit in the 

deaths of these girls to the extent that the HIV/AIDS transmission 

among sex trafficking victims is just so brutally and extraordinarily 

high, that to be trafficked into that enterprise is essentially a death 

sentence for young girls. 

Chairman GRAHAM. What country are we talking about where 

she was involved? 

Ms. COHN. Simla was trafficked in Thailand. 

Chairman GRAHAM. Well, thank you all very, very much. God 

bless you in your efforts to deal with this problem. You have our 

full support and encouragement. I am sure that is bipartisan in nature, and please take us up on the offer to strengthen the current 

laws and to give you more resources. 

And for lack of a better word, we are just dealing with scum 

here, and we need to act in a cohesive manner to make the world 

a better place. 

God bless. Thank you for coming. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:38 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

[Submissions for the record follow.] 

[Additional material is being retained in the Subcommittee files.]

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