Since 2004, over 150 Border Patrol agents have been charged with some form of corruption, including taking bribes and cooperating with human trafficking groups.
Raul and Fidel Villarreal, who are both former Border Patrol agents, will both be sentenced today for running a smuggling operation.
The operation, which was run along the international border in San Diego, was lucrative for the brothers. The prosecution argued that they smuggled thousands of people across the border in exchange for $10,000 per group of ten people. Officers estimate that they earned between $1 and $2.5 million.
The UT news did not report any mitigation argued by defense counsel, which is an essential ingredient and a key component beyond the defense and offense one argues on behalf of a client who has been charged with and/or convicted of a crime. The reader is left to ask whether this aspect of the presentation at sentencing was not emphasized at all or only minimally.
