SAN DIEGO — Two Border Patrol contract workers were arrested for allegedly conspiring to shuttle illegal immigrants from San Diego to Los Angeles for $2,500 apiece instead of returning them to Mexico.

Christopher Saint Lucero and Manley Lamont Smith work for Wackenhut Corp., which holds a Border Patrol contract to escort illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are captured by agents in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

It was unclear how long the alleged scheme lasted and how many illegal immigrants were released on U.S. soil. According to court documents, Saint Lucero told a colleague that he had been involved in about 10 smuggling attempts.

The men were arrested Sunday after Saint Lucero allegedly escorted a group of illegal immigrants from the Border Patrol’s Chula Vista station in suburban San Diego to the border in Tijuana, Mexico. According to a statement of probable cause, Mexican authorities refused to admit two who identified themselves as Salvadorans. One was an undercover agent.

Authorities say Saint Lucero then brokered the deal to get the two men to Los Angeles. Smith allegedly met them at the Border Patrol station in his Wackenhut Jeep and offered to hide them.

The arrests are the latest in a string of corruption cases that have unsettled the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection, which oversees border crossings. A border inspector in San Diego was charged last month with allowing motorists to pass through his booth with illegal immigrants and marijuana in their vehicles.

Full Story Here:
Border Patrol Contract Workers Allegedly Released Illegals

OK, let me see if I have this straight, Wackenhut, a private security agency, is doing contract work for the Border Patrol, the same Wackenhut that was fired from another big job recently, Wackenhut Fired from All Ten of Exelon’s Nuclear Plants, supposedly because their guards were doing their sleeping ON THE JOB, Asleep At The Power Plant…

The very same Wackenhut that was fired from it’s contract at Homeland Security for not being able to properly secure the facility?? Wackenhut Loses HSA Contract

That’s the Wackenhut that our Border Patrol is using to supplement their forces??

Guys that are supposed to be protecting this nation, albeit under private contract, these guys are filling their pockets with money by transporting ILLEGALS into L.A.?? The very ILLEGALS that they are being paid to keep out of the USA??

Ya know, maybe I’m missing something here but wouldn’t the recent and documented failures of Wackenhut, wouldn’t those terminations of contracts be some kind of an indication to the people that are in charge of defending, and hiring those TO defend and protect this nation??

Marc Shapiro, a Wackenhut senior vice president, said the smuggling arrests are the first since the contract began in 2006. Wackenhut has escorted illegal immigrants back to Mexico more than 1 million times during that time, he said.

Mr. Shapiro, I take issue with that statement, while it’s probably true this is the 1st time there have been arrests, are you 100% certain that it’s just not the 1st time your people have been caught??

I’m would feel fairly secure in saying that this wasn’t some ’spur of the moment’ thrown together thing where a couple of security guards brainstormed themselves a way to pick up a quick few thousand dollars, I’d be very careful about calling it a 1 in a million shot if I were you…

But even if it were the 1st incident, now is the perfect time to make an example of your guards and make the rest of them painfully aware that there will be serious repercussions should an incident such as this ever happen again, and quite frankly, look at this through the eyes of the U.S. taxpayer, the people that are quite literally paying your salary, your companies past performance has been somewhat less than stellar…

I am really put out with what passes for security on our border with Mexico, we are hiring Rent-A-Cops when we should be deploying the National Guard, but we can’t do that because the Guard is taking up the slack for our undermanned army in Iraq and Afghanistan…

Here’s a thought, instead of hiring Wackenhut and being sorely disappointed, let’s hire some real professionals, like the guys from Blackwater USA, and put them on the border, and tell em to pretend they are doing an escort on Route Irish, and tell to forget ROE’s, let your conscience be your guide, in 6 weeks we wouldn’t have an ILLEGAL problem…

Maybe I expect too much from the federal government, I don’t expect welfare or food stamps or free health care, but is asking for strict, reliable and competent border security asking for too much??