Border Patrol Agent Charged with Smuggling, Faking Citizenship

ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press Writer


SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Border Patrol agent was charged Friday with smuggling illegal immigrants and forging a birth certificate to get hired.

Oscar Antonio Ortiz, a Mexican citizen who was born in Tijuana, allegedly secured his job with the Border Patrol in 2001 by using a fake birth certificate that stated he was born in Chicago.

Authorities say the number on his birth certificate corresponds to that of another person who was born one month before him.

Ortiz, 28, pleaded not guilty to charges of migrant smuggling and making a false citizenship claim. U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Battaglia scheduled a hearing Wednesday to consider bail.

''There is no place in the Border Patrol for behavior that tarnishes and discredits the badge that we proudly wear,'' said Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar.

Ortiz, who worked at the agency's El Cajon station east of San Diego, was arrested Thursday and has been placed on administrative leave. Agency officials declined to elaborate on the charges or his employment history, and Ortiz' attorney, Stephen White, declined to discuss the case.

Wire intercepts show that Ortiz spoke on ''many occasions'' with another unnamed agent about smuggling people into the United States from Mexico through a mountainous area that he patrolled near Tecate, according to the complaint. Tecate is about 35 miles east of San Diego.

The other agent allegedly told a family member May 20 that he and Ortiz were smuggling groups of several dozen people and getting paid up to $2,000 a person.

''We have just started to work over here,'' the agent said, according to the complaint. ''It's 30, 40, 50 and up ... We don't do anything, just clear the way and we get 300 per head. But if we put in, then it's 2,000 or 1,800.''

Ortiz and the other agent allegedly talked May 3 about how much to charge an immigrant smuggler.

''I don't know how the guy wants to work, but I'll talk to him,'' Ortiz is quoted saying.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alana Wong declined to comment on the unnamed agent.

T.J. Bonner, who heads a labor union of Border Patrol agents, said the FBI used to perform background checks on prospective employees but turned that work over to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

''It's a two-minute phone call to verify whether the number (on the birth certificate) matches the name,'' said Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. ''Any rookie who is trained in immigration law could have figured that out.''

Stephen Benowitz, OPM's associate director for human resources products and services, confirmed that his office screens applicants based on criteria established by the Border Patrol. He said he was unfamiliar with Ortiz's case.

Border Patrol agents must be U.S. citizens. Apparently not!

We need to start shooting people for treason again.

It is getting worse. Maybe one day the Washington Asshats will wake up and secure the border, the damage is/will already be done.

Quoted: ...the damage is/will already be done.

Many in the USA have not noticed yet though.

If he isnt a citizen its not treason.  

Ortiz, who worked at the agency's El Cajon station east of San Diego, was arrested Thursday and has been placed on administrative leave.

''It's a two-minute phone call to verify whether the number (on the birth certificate) matches the name,'' said Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

I wonder if they have made the call yet. I also wonder if "administrative leave" means he's still collecting his salary. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they are still paying a non-citizen to be an agent. It also wouldn't surprise me if he turned out to be an illegal immigrant himself.

Fifth Column, pure and simple.

Infiltrate, obtain positions of power, open the gates for others to follow.

Rat-fucking bastards should be executed.  

We are under INVASION and anyone that doesn't get that is simply a tool of those that wish conquer us or has their head firmly up their ass.