Thread: 5 Hurt in Shootout at Border, 70 arrested UPDATED X12

Alberto Diaz, said 66 have been returned to Mexico.

How long before they try again?

Feds: Smuggling Suspect Caught for 28th Time

Van that rammed border had special tires to resist spike strips

By SUSAN TAYLOR
Updated 11:55 AM PDT, Fri, Sep 25, 2009

Shocking details have emerged in wake of a shooting at the San Ysidro port of entry earlier this week involving three vans and 78 illegal immigrants.

Two Mexican men have been charged in connection with an incident earlier this week when three vans tried to storm across the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday. A driver and passenger in one of the vans were charged with immigrant smuggling. Documents show the passenger has been arrested 28 time for immigration violations.

Among the other details that have come to light since the incident was the fact that at least one of the vans that drove through the San Ysidro border checkpoint apparently had special tires that can resist a spike strip.

The vans were packed with 78 illegal immigrants. Federal officers said they felt threatened and opened fire to stop the vans; four people were injured in the incident. The passengers allegedly paid about $3,000 each for a space inside those vans.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... -Time.html

Smuggling suspect appears in court

By Greg Moran
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
8:35 p.m. September 25, 2009

SAN DIEGO – One of two men charged in a human smuggling operation that ended Tuesday with federal agents shooting at the suspected smugglers at the San Ysidro border checkpoint appeared in federal court Friday.

Prosecutors charged Javier Jaramillo Mendez with smuggling illegal immigrants for financial gain. He was ordered held pending a detention hearing next week.

According to a federal complaint, Jaramillo was the navigator for the driver of a van who ran the border with 25 illegal immigrants inside. Jaramillo has been arrested 28 times for immigration violations, the complaint said.

The complaint says that Sergio Guzman Torres drove one of three vans loaded with illegal immigrants that ran the border checkpoint. With the van coming toward them, three federal agents opened fire. Four people were wounded, two by gunfire, including Guzman.

Guzman, who remains hospitalized, has been arrested 11 times for violating immigration laws, the complaint said. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

The complaint says Guzman told investigators he drove the van in lieu of paying a smuggling fee. Jaramillo told agents he was not a smuggler and paid $4,000 to get across the border.

But passenger Alberto Morales Sanchez, who said he paid a $3,500 smuggling fee, said that at a gas station near the border, Jaramillo got in the van with a walkie-talkie to act as navigator.

Another passenger, Jose Luna Chavez, said the initial plan to smuggle the illegal immigrants over the border fence was abandoned because of a heavy presence of Border Patrol agents. Luna said that the van's tires were replaced with a set that would not fail when rolling over vehicle spike strips, which are used by law enforcement to stop fleeing vehicles.

Luna said he paid a $2,500 smuggling fee.

Greg Moran: (619) 542-4586; greg.moran@uniontrib.com
Greg Moran: (619) 542-4586;

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... gle203530/