Has anyone attempted to indict under the statute that requires us to prove that the illegal aliens (who are immediately deported have been forced into prostitution, etc)? I am sick of gangs running illegal aliens like cattle through our county but I can see very little help in the present statute.Sorry I'm at home and don't have the section memorized.

If you're referring to the Human Trafficking statute, Hidalgo County just finished their first case:

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Woman receives $10,000 fine, four years probation in slave trial

May 09,2006
McAllen Monitor


EDINBURG � Ellilian Jud De Leon Ramos, the first person convicted of human trafficking in Hidalgo County, was sentenced Monday to four years probation and assessed a $10,000 fine.

The same jury that convicted Ramos, 35, on Friday of one count of human trafficking took a few hours to determine her sentence. She had been charged with two counts but jurors only convicted her on one. They also cleared her husband, Juan Carlos Ramos, of the one count he faced in connection with the case.

The couple was accused of paying a coyote $250 to illegally transport cousins Maria de Jesus Batres and Floridalma Sales Flores across the Rio Grande in November 2004. The women claimed they were promised $125 a week after they worked off the money paid for their transport. Instead, Batres and Flores said there was no pay and Ellilian Ramos threatened to turn them in to immigration authorities or report them to police if they tried to leave.

Ellilian Ramos will be formally sentenced May 24 in Judge Noe Gonzalez�s 370th state District Court. Human trafficking is a second-degree felony punishable between two and 20 years in prison.

The couple were the first to stand trial in Hidalgo County under a law the Texas Legislature passed in 2003 to prevent human trafficking for labor and sexual slavery. Human trafficking is also a federal offense, but the couple did not face federal charges.

Ramos� defense attorney, Fernando Mancias, asked jurors to consider sentencing his client to three years probation with no fine, explaining the case has already cost the family in attorney fees. The couple also face a pending civil suit, in which the women are seeking monetary damages.

But Assistant District Attorney Joseph Orendain told jurors to give Ramos probation without a fine "would be ridiculous."

"It�s a serious crime," he said.