Thread: Mexican enters country illegally on Deming school bus

Mexican national enters country illegally on Deming school bus

By Matt Robinson / Deming Headlight
Posted: 09/21/2011 08:13:24 AM MDT

A Mexican national is facing multiple immigration violations following his hitching a ride from the port of entry on a Deming Public Schools bus.

Doug Mosier, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol-El Paso Sector, confirmed that on the morning of Thursday, Sept. 15, an 18-year-old used the regular bus service from the Columbus Port of Entry to Deming to illegally enter the country.

He could not give specifics on the case, citing the ongoing investigation, but did say the Mexican national faces multiple immigration violations, including illegal entry and fraudulent use of a document. Authorities were tipped off when the Deming Police Department was contacted. The DPD in turn called the USBP.

"It did happen, unfortunately," Ray Trejo Jr., director of DPS transportation, said. "Thank goodness they just basically took a trip on a school bus."

He said similar incidents have happened from "time to time" with the last incident occurring "several years ago."

He added that past incidents sparked the school district to explore security measures on the buses, such as electronic pass cards that would require each student to have their card scanned to board the bus.

"The Zpass system is something that we are just now implementing," he said. "It takes a little time, because we have to verify students on the school bus, make changes to the roster, then, when that's cleaned up, we can start issuing zpasses."

On the first day of school, he said, bus drivers are given a list of passengers with their pictures.

The incident is the third in recent weeks of law enforcement personnel responding to a call from school officials to investigate the background of a bus rider.

Captain Arturo Baeza of the Luna County Sheriff's office detailed two incidents from Sept. 9 and Sept. 14 which caught his department's attention.

In one instance, a child arrived at school to register, but was without his parents. After some investigating, authorities determined the child had a legitimate birth certificate and that his father was unable to register his son because of living in Mexico.

A second incident involved the same kind of situation, but the individual was returned to the port of entry.

Matt Robinson can be reached at mrobinson@demingheadlight.com

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_18943490