Thread: Border police nab migrant in car dashboard

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Border police nab migrant in car dashboard
Tue Feb 6, 2007 3:41 PM ET



PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. border inspectors found an undocumented Chinese immigrant wedged into the dashboard of a car crossing from Mexico, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said inspectors found the 40-year-old man crammed into the dash of a Mercury Sable mid-size car during a routine inspection at the Calexico port of entry in southern California on Saturday.

"Inspectors referred the vehicle for secondary inspection after the driver gave inconsistent answers to their questions," Vince Bond, the CBP spokesman in San Diego, said by telephone.

"They discovered a specially constructed compartment underneath the dashboard area of the car and officers using a mirror could see part of a man's foot exposed," he added.

Bond said inspectors ripped the dashboard open to release the unnamed Chinese. He was subsequently arrested along with the driver, a 53-year-old U.S. citizen.

The discovery was the latest of a growing number of attempts to smuggle undocumented immigrants concealed in car seats, engine compartments and even gas tanks in a bid to beat tighter border security on the southwest border.

"Deep concealment is on the rise as security gets tighter," Bond said.

"It's no longer a matter of hiding people under a dark blanket in the back of a minivan."



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Man Found Inside Dashboard At Border

POSTED: 8:00 am PST February 7, 2007
UPDATED: 8:06 am PST February 7, 2007

CALEXICO, Calif. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they had to rip open a car's dashboard, after finding a man hidden inside.

Images: Human Smuggling Busts

It happened Saturday around 10 a.m. during a routine border inspection at the Calexico port of entry, customs officials said.

Officers said they discovered an undocumented 40-year-old Chinese man tucked inside the dash of a car driven by a U.S. citizen returning from Mexico.

The officers were prompted to search the vehicle, after what they said were inconsistencies in the driver's story during the inspection.

Paramedics were called in to remove the man from the dash. Customs officers said the driver was a 53-year-old man from Desert Hot Springs.

The driver was charged with alien smuggling and taken to Imperial County jail. His car was seized by the border patrol. Officers said the Chinese man was held by the border patrol and will used as a material witness in the case.

This is the latest in a series of smuggling incidents at the U.S.-Mexico border. In November 2006, Customs officers discovered an undocumented 17-year-old Chinese girl in a tight, specially constructed metal compartment under a truck. It measured 5-feet long, 1-foot wide and 1-foot high.

The girl was not moving or responding when she was first discovered. She underwent a medical examination, and was later discharged and returned to the port to be processed.

A 36-year-old man from Mexicali was driving that car, agents said. He was charged with alien smuggling.

In another incident, officers at the Calexico port of entry said they found three undocumented migrants, hidden in the seats of a U.S. citizen's vehicle.

Agents said they found the two men and a woman sewn into the seats of a van, driving by a 33-year-old U.S. citizen. That driver was also arrested and charged.