Reacting to the deaths of 10 illegal immigrants packed into a tractor-trailer that crossed the Mexico-U.S. border into Texas over the weekend, the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official vowed Monday to crack down on smuggling networks.

According to law enforcement authorities, more than 100 people were inside the trailer after reportedly paying thousands of dollars to a smuggling operation; one man said he paid $5,500 for the one-way trip to America.

James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, has been charged with illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain resulting in death. Authorities said they believe four of the passengers were between the ages of 10 and 17.

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“By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished,” acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said in a statement. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations works year-round to identify, dismantle and disrupt the transnational criminal networks that smuggle people into and throughout the United States.”

Homan indicated that the tragedy brought back memories of investigating a similar incident in 2003, when 19 illegal immigrants died in Texas in 2003 because of the indifference of human smugglers.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said preventing tragedies like the one over the weekend requires more than enforcement.

“The most important thing is for the federal government and state governments alike to send a uniform message that illegal immigration is not tolerated,” she said. “That’s going to take a lot more than ICE enforcing the law.”

Vaughan said it is important for law enforcement authorities to address the problem of illegal hiring. So far, there has been little evidence of increased scrutiny of employers. She said it also is important to follow through on vows to crack down on so-called “sanctuary” cities that refuse to  cooperate with ICE. She said such behavior encourages illegal immigrants to believe they will be able to stay if they make it to America and that it will encourage risky decisions, such as paying human smugglers.

Vaughan said cutting off government benefits would also help. She said “often, state policy is not to ask” about immigration status when people apply for state-level benefits.

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Enforcement coupled with other government policies work, Vaughan said. She said the illegal immigration population in Arizona dropped when that state passed a tough anti-immigration law that included a requirement that employers use the E-Verify system to ensure that they are hiring only authorized workers.

Census Bureau data indicate, Vaughan added, that the total illegal immigrant population dropped by about a million people from 2007 to 2009. She said part of the drop could be attributed to the economic downturn, but she argued that increased enforcement at the end of the George W. Bush administration and the beginning of the Barack Obama administration played a role as well.

“We’ve seen in the past, more than once in recent history, that when immigration enforcement was stepped up, the number of people trying to come here went down and the number of people living here illegally went down, not because they were deported,” she said.