Nevada measure targets human trafficking

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A state Assembly panel voted Wednesday for a bill targeting "coyotes" who smuggle people into the United States after hearing attorneys general from both Nevada and Arizona describe widespread problems such as beatings and rapes of victims and violence between rival smugglers.

AB383, by Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, was endorsed by Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and her Arizona counterpart, Terry Goddard, during an Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee hearing.

The bill, which is similar to an Arizona law approved in 2005, would impose felony penalties for those convicted of human trafficking. It also could result in revoked business licenses for Nevada businesses convicted of knowingly violating federal immigration laws.

Kirkpatrick brought up the recent indictments in Phoenix, Ariz., of 14 travel agency owners or employees on human smuggling and other charges for allegedly selling airline tickets allegedly for use by illegal immigrants.

Legislators were told by Kirkpatrick, Cortez Masto and Goddard that in many cases those tickets were flights out of McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to locations throughout the country.