GABRIELA RICO

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this week shut down a Tucson-based operation that smuggled close to 400 illegal immigrants into the United States during the four months it was under surveillance.
 
Six people, including three Tucsonans and a Tohono O'odham man, are in federal custody on alien-smuggling charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Agents Thursday arrested Tucsonans Raul Green, 44, and Diane Nietzke, 45; Clyde Harvey, 34, of Choulic, which is about 20 miles south of Sells on the Tohono O'odham Nation; and Jose Humberto Marquez, 33 of Sinaloa, Mexico, and his wife, whose name was not available.

Tucsonan Thomas Tierney, 46, turned himself in yesterday when he learned that a warrant for his arrest had been issued, said Matthew Allen, acting assistant supervisor in charge of the Tucson ICE office.

The six were indicted Jan. 28 by a Tucson federal grand jury and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to federal statutes.

The group, dubbed the Raul Green and Jose Humberto Marquez Human Trafficking Organization, was running an average of 25 people per week into the country through Choulic and then into Tucson, Allen said.

The investigation, which was the result of an anonymous tip, was a collaborative effort among ICE, the Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, Allen said.

"At the end of the day, we're confident that we got all members of this little cell," he said. "We rolled up the whole organization."