Nine Irish people have been charged with taking part in an immigrant smuggling ring operating across the Canadian border.
The nine include two bar owners accused of arranging payments to smugglers on behalf of illegal Irish immigrants.
The US attorney's office in Buffalo, New York, announced the indictment after raids on homes in Boston, New York and Philadelphia last week.
The cases follow the arrest last month of three other people connected to an Irish pub in Buffalo who are accused of smuggling Irish immigrants across the border for profit.
Those charged in the latest arrests include Seán McEvoy, originally from Cavan and a joint owner of a bar in Yonkers, who has been charged along with Cavan taxi driver Peter Hennessey of McLean Avenue, Yonkers, with encouraging Cavan resident and New York GAA player Shane Lawlor, aka Shane Russell.
Mr Lawlor has been charged separately with entering the US illegally after he was refused entry on April 23rd, 2005.
Mr Hennessey has also been charged with Boston resident John J Whelan, aka Seán J Whelan, of Dorchester Avenue, south Boston, of arranging for Mr Whelan's brother, Declan, to be taken into the US illegally.
Declan Whelan, also of Dorchester Avenue, has been charged with entering the US illegally between May 17th and May 31st, 2005. He was originally refused entry in 1999.
Phillip Reilly, a bar owner in Woodside Avenue, Queens, has been charged with setting up illegal immigrant plans for three Irish immigrants in New York and Philadelphia.
The three have also been charged with illegal immigration into the US.
Assistant US Attorney for western New York, Gretchen Wylegala, told The Irish Times that most of the nine indicted had been released on bail.
Ms Wylegala has also entered into a plea agreement with Bridget Campbell (37), an owner of Campbell's pub in Buffalo, New York, who admits organising illegal immigration.