A Voice from the Eastern Door

Akwesasne Woman Faces Five Years For Alien Smuggling

Audrey Rae Bush of Akwesasne could spend up to five years in federal prison after admitting in federal court that she transported two Chinese citizens who were illegally in the United States.

She pleaded guilty Nov. 9 in federal court in Syracuse to two counts of transporting illegal aliens.

When sentenced on March 16, she could also be fined $250,000 and will also forfeit $1,000 she received for transporting the aliens.

According to a plea agreement, the two Chinese citizens arrived on the reservation May 11 after entering the United States from Canada by boat across the St. Lawrence River. When the boat docked on the reservation, the Chinese citizens met Bush, who was in a vehicle a few feet from the dock and began driving them to a bus terminal in Syracuse. From there, they would travel to New York City.

Court documents say U.S. Border Patrol agents were asked by state police for assistance at a traffic stop on state Route 37 in Hammond because the unidentified driver of the vehicle had given the trooper “a series of conflicting stories about why he was in the area.” The driver was operating a vehicle registered to Bush and he told agents she was his girlfriend.

The driver told agents that Bush was also traveling in the area as she was shopping at Wal-Mart in Ogdensburg. The agent found this “odd” since Ogdensburg is 45 minutes from the reservation, while the Massena Walmart is about 15 minutes away. The driver also could not explain why he had stopped in the parking lot of a certified public accountant even though he did not have an appointment there, according to the documents.

Agents somehow learned that Bush also had a maroon 2008 Chevrolet Equinox registered to her. As they were talking to the driver, a vehicle matching that description passed. The documents say smugglers sometimes use two vehicles in their operations, one of which acts as a scout or lookout vehicle.

Agents stopped the Equinox. The driver identified herself as Bush. Two backseat passengers did not speak English and one of the passengers provided a Hong Kong-issued passport which did not contain a valid U.S. visa. When agents asked a female passenger for a passport, she “shook her head as if to say she did not have one,” the documents say.

Bush identified the passengers as friends that she was taking shopping in Syracuse. Agents asked Bush how she had met them and how she communicated with them since they were not English-speakers, according to the documents. She said she met the pair in a Massena bar a few weeks prior and “the apparent language barrier had not been a problem.” The documents say she changed her story, telling agents she had just met the pair in front of Hannaford in Massena, learned they were headed to Syracuse and offered them a ride, court documents say.

When agents asked how Bush overcame the language barrier to learn their destination, she “said she would not speak to the agent any further without having a lawyer present,” according to the documents.

 

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