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U.S. border agents, lured by the other side

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Al otro lado. To the other side. U.S. Customs officers and Border Patrol agents have recently come under the radar of the Department of Homeland Security for accepting financial incentives from smugglers in Mexico. The Homeland Security Department, established in 2003, had dissolved an internal affairs unit at the time, but has since renewed its internal criminal investigation team and is expected to employ 200 investigators by the end of this year in light of recent cases involving customs officers and border agents alleged to have assisted smugglers with illegal immigration trafficking for bribes. In one case, brothers Raul and Fidel Villarreal who worked as U.S. Border Patrol agents have been identified as assisting smugglers help immigrants from Mexico and Brazil enter the United States. Now, the Villarreals have since abandoned their posts and fled to Mexico. Read more in Randal C. Archibold and Andrew Becker's article "U.S. border agents, lured by the other side" (International Herald Tribune, May 27, 2008).

Photo: Customs agents unloading drugs found in Otay Mesa, California. Agents looking the other way instead are an increasing problem. (Sandy Huffaker/The New York Times).
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