Clandestino: Creative smuggling at the border

elchrist

I know I'm going to sound like a real a-hole here, but what is up with the recent human smuggling busts at the border where people are being crammed into the tightest spaces in a vehicle?

I understand that people have always taken risks to gain a new beginning and life and I completely respect that, but to be shoved inside an engine? WTF is wrong with the smuggler (and even the smugglee)? They just don't care about human life, do they?

And this wasn't the first time it happened this year.

Now the Chinese immigrant who was found inside the dash a few months back... that was hilarious. It doesn't seem like he was in much danger, but what flexibility. He reminded me so much of the Asian thief from Ocean's Eleven.

So what's next? Stuffing people inside the spare tire, the cushion of the back seat, the muffler? I'm sure some of these have already been attempted and successfully done. David Copperfield could probably make some good consulting money with his smoke and mirrors acts.

What's the strangest case of human smuggling you've heard of?

Hobbit · Posted: 22 Feb 2007 06:53 PM Post subject:

I actually 'lol'd'. Laughing

superplayer · Posted: 23 Feb 2007 09:28 AM Post subject:

Girl in piñata found during border check

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Inspectors at border checkpoints have seen it all: people rolled inside carpets, sewn into car seats and stuffed into washing machines, all attempting to be smuggled into the United States.

But inspectors at the Tecate Port of Entry discovered a new twist recently when they encountered a little girl meticulously sealed inside a piñata.

The child was found just before 3 p.m. Nov. 2, when two U.S. citizens attempted to drive a 1990 Acura sedan loaded with several piñatas through the border checkpoint. Suspicious customs inspectors decided to take a closer look at their cargo.

"Officers began to take the piñatas out of the back seat, and one seemed to be much heavier than the others," said Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs & Border Protection. "This one had a little girl of approximately 4 or 5 years of age inside it."

The girl's mother also was found, curled up inside the car's trunk, and the girl's brother, who is about 9 years old, was found underneath the collapsible back seat.

The large piñata carrying the little girl appeared to be a representation of a "Powerpuff Girls" cartoon character.

The girl was completely sealed inside, Bond said, but she was able to breathe and seemed to be in good physical condition. She, her mother and brother were voluntarily deported to Mexico after they were found.

The car carrying the piñatas bore California plates and was driven by a female U.S. citizen; a man in the passenger seat also is a U.S. citizen. Their names were not available.

Neither will be prosecuted, Bond said, in part because of the sheer volume of immigrant-smuggling cases.

"The arrests of individuals smuggling people far exceeds the ability to prosecute all these people," he said. "The more egregious cases obviously will be considered for prosecution, but if there is no prosecution, we must release them."

Bond could not say if this was the first such incident of a person being smuggled inside a piñata, but acknowledged it was an odd case. Piñatas have been used to smuggle drugs, according to immigration officials, and humans have so far been found hiding in everything from upholstery to appliances.

"We have found people inside the dashboard of a car, inside a gas tank, inside a seat," Bond said.

elchrist · Posted: 23 Feb 2007 10:44 AM Post subject: