Move Back
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Hipolito Acosta at Border Patrol Academy graduation in 1976.![ACOSTA_4]()
Hipolito Acosta and wife Terrie at Border Patrol Academy graduation in 1976.![ACOSTA_6]()
Marfa Border Patrol Sector—between Marfa and Valentine, Texas—with a group of undocumented immigrants that Border Patrol Agent Jimmy Harris and Hipolito Acosta tracked for several groups.![ACOSTA_1]()
17-year-old Hipolito Acosta in the U.S. Navy.![ACOSTA_3]()
Hipolito Acosta and wife Terrie, wedding day in 1975 in El Paso, Texas.![ACOSTA]()
Hipolito Acosta standing in front of what was a human smuggling drop house in El Paso, Texas. In 1982, it was the agency's largest infiltrated human smuggling operation, Operation Villasana.![ACOSTA_2]()
Hipolito Acosta and his mother in 1972.![ACOSTA_7]()
Medina Case: November 1978, after arriving in Chicago. In the basement parking lot of the federal building. Hipolito Acosta is pictured in the middle.![ACOSTA_8]()
Medina Case: The Marquez Family: For their safety and to prevent abuse by smugglers, Consuelo Marques (kneeling in front) kept her family close. Seven family members were smuggled by the Medina’s in a U-Haul truck to re-join their father Pedro in Chicago.![Medina_home_1]()
The house where the Medina family operated a human smuggling operation. Acosta was kept here for three days before their departure in the back of a U-Haul truck to Chicago.![ACOSTA_9]()
In 1979—In Chicago following the seizure of hundreds of counterfeit legal resident cards, several handguns, and almost $15,000 in case from a counterfeit document distributor on Chicago’s South side.![ACOSTA_10]()
In 1982: Acosta (left) and Special Agent Gilbert Wise on the day they took down Operation Villasana in El Paso, Texas. Credit: Dionisio Lopez![ACOSTA_11]()
In 1984—Houses where undocumented immigrants were housed called “wetshacks.” Acosta spent several days in this one at a tree farm north of Dallas where the owner kept about ten undocumented workers cutting trees and refused to pay them their due wages. Credit: Doug Keim.![ACOSTA_12]()
In 1984—Acosta on left, with colleagues Tony Sifuentes (middle) and Special Agent Gilbert Wies (right) during an operation. Credit: Dionisio Lopez.![ACOSTA_13]()
Acosta (upper left) with colleagues Gilbert Rodriguez, Noe Dominguez, and Henry Aguilar after taking down a forty-five pound cocaine case in Miami.![ACOSTA_15]()
Acosta receiving Commissioner Challenge Award from Immigration and Naturalization Services from Commissioner Doris Meissner.![ACOSTA_16]()
In 2008--Acosta in front of the Castillo residence in Compton, Calif., a headquarters for a major immigrant smuggling operation. He spent several days there after being smuggled from Tijuana and then transported to Chicago.Hipolito Acosta: The Shadow Catcher
Former Immigration & Naturalization Services undercover agent Hipolito Acosta recently gave Fox News Latino a tour of a few of the locations in which he infiltrated human smuggling operations throughout his 30-year career.
Move Forward
- Hipolito Acosta: The Shadow Catcher
