LOCAL : 54 More Aliens Picked Up at LAX

Immigration agents rounded up 54 illegal aliens boarding flights at Los Angeles International Airport early today, bringing to 131 the number of arrests made in a week-long crackdown on alien smuggling.

The illegal immigrants, from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico, were arrested while trying to board red-eye flights to the East Coast and other parts of the country, said Ernest Gustafson, district director for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Gustafson said the aliens were dropped off at the airport in clusters by smugglers, who were paid $1,000 to $2,000 by their “human cargo.” Officials seized a car owned by a smuggler, but none were arrested, Gustafson said.