Thread: Afghan Man Captured Swimming Across Border

Afghan Man Captured Swimming Across Border

Aug 14, 2006 04:37 PM

Reported by Romeo Cantu

An Afghan man remained in federal custody in the Valley Monday after being caught illegally entering the country.

U.S. Border Patrol officials told Action 4 News that the 30-year-old man was captured around 3:00 p.m. Friday about 1 mile east of the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.

As he swam across the Rio Grande, he was quickly apprehended by agents without incident, authorities said.

Because it is an ongoing investigation, Border Patrol refused to say much about the man other than that he was being detained and questioned by its agency and the FBI on charges of entering the country illegally.

The reason for the FBI interrogation is because the Afghanistan man comes from an area that is considered to be a country of special interest -- those countries with possible terrorist ties.

But on a larger-scale, the man from Afghanistan is considered to be an illegal immigrant from a country "Other Than Mexico", which the Border Patrol calls an OTM.

Already this year, agents have apprehended nearly 100,000 illegal immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley sector, of those, about half or 49,000 are OTMs.

The big question is how are these OTMs getting into Mexico and crossing the U.S. borders, especially if they come from countries where they don't speak Spanish.

One theory, suggests these illegal immigrants that don't speak Spanish hide in large cities, like Mexico City, for about year and there take up the language and culture, trying to blend in.

Border Patrol agents said that during their questioning of the OTMs they're able to learn how these people are getting through Mexico and in the process agents are learning how to better protect the border.

Border patrol agents are conducting a background check on the Afghan man, but no word yet if he has any ties to any terrorist groups.

http://www.team4news.com/global/story.a ... =Printable

The big question is how are these OTMs getting into Mexico and crossing the U.S. borders, especially if they come from countries where they don't speak Spanish.

I wouldn't put it past the drug and gang scum south of our border to act to escort them to the border. The man arrested could be a scout sent forth to look for an easy way in our country.

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