Man pleads guilty to flying illegal immigrants north

A South Carolina man faces 10 years in prison after admitting he used his private plane to smuggle illegal immigrants from McAllen into the U.S. interior.

James Leroy Pierson pleaded guilty Monday to a federal count of harboring immigrants during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Mississippi.

According to court documents, he told agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he had picked up Mexican nationals from Rio Grande Valley hotels on at least three occasions and boarded them on his private aircraft at McAllen-Miller International Airport.

The plane was used to avoid inspection at checkpoints along roadways leading from the Valley to points north.

Authorities became suspicious of Pierson when they noticed he had made several long-distance trips from McAllen to Clemson, S.C., in his small plane. On each trip he stopped in cities such as Beaumont and Meridian, Miss., to refuel.

"Flying such a small plane such a long distance and paying for fuel at each refueling point with cash, all aroused suspicions," ICE special agent Tonya Barrett said in a written affidavit submitted as part of Pierson's case.

Agents stopped Pierson's plane Jan. 28 during a refueling stop at a Meridian airport. Inside, they found four passengers: two men, one woman and a child. The three adults admitted to being Mexican nationals and entering the United States illegally.

Pierson later told authorities he was paid $5,000 for the trips by another man who called each time to tell him where he could find the immigrants in McAllen.

Pierson's attorney in Mississippi did not return calls for comment Friday.

A U.S. District judge is expected to decide his punishment at a sentencing hearing set for June 2.
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.