Laredo's Finest Taxi Service
There's a scene in The Usual Suspects in which a smuggler contracts a ride with "New York's Finest Taxi Service"--a ring of corrupt cops who drive criminals around safely in the back of a police cruiser. In exchange for a healthy chunk o' change, you get where you're going with no hassle.
Well, some Texas National Guardsmen are accused of recreating that scene with a National Guard van and 24 illegal immigrants:
According to the federal complaint, Private Torres was driving 24 illegal immigrants in a white Ford van leased to the National Guard and was stopped last Wednesday at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35 about 30 miles north of Laredo.There's a loophole we can close up pretty quickly.Citing an account “freely stated” by Private Torres after his arrest, Jose Melero, a special agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, said Private Torres evaded detection with the help of Sergeant Hodge, who “approached the van to make it appear that they were doing National Guardsmen business.” The complaint did not say whether Sergeant Hodge was in uniform.
Afterward, Special Agent Melero said, Private Torres “left the checkpoint via the service lane, thereby avoiding an immigration inspection.”