Boughader, Serrano and Duenas all cut plea bargains. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Skerlos, who prosecuted the case, said Serrano ran a safe house for Boughader in San Diego and Duenas was a "coyote" who guided aliens across the border. Boughader, Skerlos said, admitted in court to smuggling more than 100 people. Neither Serrano nor Duenas, he said, were involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Balaghi, but Boughader pleaded guilty in Balaghi's case to smuggling an alien "resulting in death."
I asked Skerlos whether any of the Middle Easterners smuggled by Boughader had ties to terrorist organizations. "No comment," he said.
Boughader's organization, said Korkin's affidavit, "employs several individuals and co-conspirators in various countries including Lebanon."
As a result of his plea bargain, Boughader will serve only one year and one day in prison. Hopefully, he has been induced to help investigators track his clients.
Since December, the San Diego Union-Tribune has run two reports revealing that Balaghi's remains were tested for radiation.
I asked Leonard how often the Border Patrol in his sector intercepts Middle Eastern illegals. "It happens," he said. "It's not by any means unusual. But it isn't every day."
"Radiation detectors," he also told me, "are being issued out to the Border Patrol agents. We are in the process of putting together a standard operations procedure packet, telling agents how to operate them . . . how they will be used, where they will be used. As soon as that is completed the devices will be issued out to the agents, absolutely.
"Just one more thing," said Leonard. "We're out there securing and protecting our nation's borders, and we take these terrorist and terrorist-related threats very seriously, and we're working hard to protect and secure our nation's borders."
That's a certainty. Law enforcement in San Diego -- from the Border Patrol, to the federal prosecutors to the county medical examiner -- are doing their best. But as long as Middle Eastern aliens keep sneaking in from Mexico, it is an equal certainty these officers are not getting all the support they need from policymakers in Washington.