Tucson Region
Three border crossers die; 47 caught in Nogales
Border Patrol also rescues dozens from desert heat
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.18.2008
At least three illegal immigrants died Monday and Tuesday along Arizona's border with Mexico, officials said.
Also Monday and Tuesday, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 47 illegal immigrants in two downtown Nogales, Ariz., hotels and rescued dozens of illegal border crossers, officials said.
Deaths
Three illegal immigrants — two men and a woman — died on the Tohono O'odham Nation west of Tucson, officials said.
On Tuesday at about 9 a.m. southwest of Sells, a Border Patrol agent discovered the body of a 21-year-old man from Mexico, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The agent found the man under a tree south of Federal Route 20, he said. He appeared to have died a couple of hours earlier.
On Monday at about 11 a.m., an agent with the Border Patrol's search, trauma and rescue team found the body of a man about four miles southwest of the village of Pisinimo, west of Sells, Daniels said. Borstar agents had been looking for the man since the night before.
The rescue attempt began late Sunday, when agents apprehended two men near Pisinimo. One of them was the deceased man's brother. He told agents he had left his brother the night before about five miles south of Pisinimo. That man, a 32-year-old citizen of Mexico and the man with him, a 19-year-old Mexican citizen, helped agents during the search, Daniels said.
The deceased was a 34-year-old man from Mexico, Daniels said. His brother was put in contact with officials from the Mexican Consulate, which will help him make funeral arrangements and return to Mexico, Daniels said.
On Monday night around 9 p.m., the Border Patrol was notified of a 911 call made by a man who said he and three others were in distress near the village of Vamori, about 10 miles north of the border. About 9:45 p.m., a crew aboard a Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine helicopter spotted the four people — two married couples — and landed.
The crew put them aboard the helicopter and flew them to the Sells hospital, Daniels said. At about 10 p.m., one of the women, a 20-year-old from Veracruz, Mexico, died at the hospital, he said.
The other woman, 21, of Tlaxcala, Mexico, was flown by life flight to St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson. No information was available on her condition as of Tuesday night.
The two men were treated and deemed fit for travel. They were turned over to the custody of the Mexican Consulate.
Rescues
Agents performed three significant rescues Monday and Tuesday on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
On Monday about 4 p.m., agents apprehended an illegal immigrant near the village of Nolic, northwest of Sells. The man said he had left several other people behind, Daniels said. Borstar agents and agents with dogs found nine people north of Arizona 86, Daniels said.
A 31-year-old man from Chihuahua, Mexico, was badly dehydrated and was flown by helicopter to St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson. The others were treated at the scene.
Monday night, agents apprehended 20 illegal border crossers from Mexico south of the village of Vamori, Daniels said. Members of the group told agents they had left behind two people.
The Border Patrol launched a search, which included an Air and Marine helicopter, and found a husband and wife from Puebla, Mexico, in the area. The man was treated at the scene, and the woman was taken by ambulance to the Sells hospital, he said. She was later flown to St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson for additional care, he said.
Monday at 11:25 a.m., agents found a man they had been looking for since the previous night.
On Sunday night, agents arrested a 19-year-old man east of Why on Arizona 86 who told agents that his brother was dehydrated and left behind.
They found the brother, 19, Monday in decent condition.
Hotel arrests
On Monday night, agents arrested 47 illegal immigrants in two hotels in Nogales, Ariz., after receiving tips.
In the first case, agents arrested 23 illegal immigrants from Mexico in four rooms and seized Ford and Chevy pickup trucks.
At another hotel, agents arrested 21 illegal immigrants from Mexico, he said. The people told agents there were three others in a residence on Morley Avenue.
There, agents arrested three more illegal immigrants, two of whom will be charged with smuggling. Agents don't believe the hotel owners knew what was going on, Daniels said.
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