Illegal border-crossing groups are getting bigger
By Derek Jordan/Wick Communications
Published: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:26 PM CST

U.S. Border Patrol agents are noticing more illegal immigrants traveling in larger groups.

More than three dozen were apprehended together last Tuesday night in the remote desert about 20 miles east of Benson, agent Alex Gomez said.

"That's a big group," Gomez said. "We're starting to see this new kind of trend. Last year, we would catch groups of 10 to 20 people."

About 11:30 p.m. Feb. 9, an agent operating an infrared scope noticed the group of 37 people near mile marker 4 on Birch Road east of Benson and contacted agents from the Border Patrol's Willcox station to intercept them.

It was the second recent bust of a large number of immigrants in Cochise County.

On Feb. 4, a citizen report sparked a series of events culminating in the apprehension of a group of 29 illegal immigrants near the San Pedro River, agent Colleen Agle said.

Details about the incident were unavailable Wednesday because agents involved in it were off duty and Agle was not aware of a report about it on file. She did say a white sport utility vehicle on an unimproved road near the San Pedro River was seized in the incident.

The size of the groups passing into the country can depend on both the smuggling operation and the staging area, Gomez said. "It can be a collaboration between different groups that meet up in Mexico, along the border or in the U.S.," he said.

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