Federal agents rounded up a dozen men in central Iowa this morning who were in the country illegally. Estela Biesemeyer, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says a state D-O-T crew came upon a pickup truck that had run out of gas on Interstate 80 in Jasper County between the Newton and Grinnell exits. The individuals didn’t speak English so agents were dispatched. Biesemeyer says they were part of a human smuggling ring that was transporting the men from Arizona to Chicago and points in North Carolina and New Jersey. She says there was no problem taking the men into custody. There were 12 men, all in the country illegally. Most of them are believed to be from Mexico, at least one was from El Salvador. All 12 are now in federal custody. Biesemeyer says “human smuggling is a serious crime so we’ll continue our investigation and see where it leads us.”
