COLUMBIA -- Millions of dollars are going from South Carolina to smugglers to bring people into the United States, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

In stories published this week, The Arizona Republic detailed how smugglers, known as "coyotes," bring thousands across the Mexican border each day and collect their fees from friends and relatives of the smuggled immigrants.

South Carolina was noted by the newspaper as a popular destination for illegal immigrants and also one of the states that wire far more money to Arizona than Arizona wires back, an indicator of families sending coyotes smuggling fees.

Andrea Esquer, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, said her office has examined wire transfers and seized funds as part of the office's investigation of coyotes' operations.

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"We do believe that the majority of the wire transfers that we've seen through this particular investigation is used for human smuggling," she said.

Wilfredo Leon, a Greenville Hispanic leader and publisher, said he is aware of the practice of South Carolina relatives paying smugglers.

"I am very aware that Latinos and other immigrants, once they are here, they pay to have their family members brought into the U.S.," he said. "I hear the going rate to pay a coyote to bring somebody here is $3,000 to $5,000."

He said some of the wire transfers to Arizona, where he once lived, are likely to help support relatives who live there. But he said some also are going to pay coyotes.

South Carolina wired $4.2 million to recipients in Arizona last year, according to the newspaper, while those in the Palmetto State received $111,198 back from Arizona senders. The 38-to-1 imbalance is one of the highest in the nation and an indicator that families are wiring money to smugglers, according to an official with the Arizona Attorney General's Office quoted by the newspaper.

Leon called the border a "revolving door."

"We release or deport people and within a few days or weeks or months they are back here," he said. "I know people who need to go back home to deal with family issues and they come back here like you or I would buy an airline ticket."

He said a "huge" number of undocumented workers leave the state each Christmas to return to Mexico and have no trouble returning.

Leon said some of South Carolina's Latino population comes from what he calls "internal immigration," Hispanics who move from one state to another.

Lt. Shea Smith, a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, said investigators sometimes hear of the payments but pass on the information to federal authorities.

He said the office hears of this type of thing occurring, "and a lot of times it involves smuggling aliens into South Carolina and the Greenville area.

"But local and state law enforcement have no jurisdiction over immigration laws. So we basically document the information and pass it along to Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

The Greenville News was unable to reach a spokesman for the federal agency Wednesday or Thursday.

Karla Ornelas, deputy consul for the Mexican Consulate office in Raleigh, N.C., said her office is aware of the payment system.

"Aware that it happens? Yes," she said. "But aware of specific cases or follow them, no. In general, we are aware there are a lot of people who come to the United States by means of coyotes. Can we do something about it? No, that is up to the law enforcement agencies in both countries to do something about it."

Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, said coyotes are "a major problem" and dealing with them is addressed in a pending Senate immigration bill, which increases the prison terms for those who smuggle immigrants.

But Leon said increasing prison terms isn't the answer.

"I think that would raise the price," he said of the law's impact. "You cannot deal with the issue this way. Making it illegal and increasing the penalties is not going to make it go away. It's just going to make it more lucrative to the people in the business."

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of Greenville said, "Human trafficking is a horrific crime. We must secure our borders immediately to shut down illegal immigration and the human smuggling business it has created."