ABSTRACT
In 1978, with Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) approval, the United States Border Patrol started an investigative program that targeted human smugglers. INS investigations and Border Patrol Anti-Smuggling Unit (ASU) agents were placed in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE). The agents were looking for undocumented immigrants attempting to board the train to travel into the interior of the United States. A call to the Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) in Los Angeles confirmed that they had an open case on several organizations smuggling undocumented females into the United States to work as prostitutes. In Los Angeles, the agents searched furiously for the women, finding and arresting several groups of undocumented female immigrants working as prostitutes for a variety of criminal gangs. Human smuggling and trafficking organizations often one and the same as the case of the Costa Rican women attests span several countries and continents.
