More than 50 illegal immigrants captured at downtown Douglas apartment
City police say it is the largest raid in any single location in Douglas in recent memory
By Larry Blaskey
Wick News Service
Published: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 11:20 PM MST

DOUGLAS — More than 50 illegal immigrants were captured and detained today after the apartment they were using was discovered by the Douglas Police Department.

The apartment, located at 337 G Avenue, was discovered as a result of a vehicle check at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Douglas Police Officer Tomas Romero spotted a suspicious vehicle on 19th Street and A Avenue. After checking on the plates of the 1999 yellow Chevy 3/4 ton pickup, it was discovered to be registered to a fictitious address in Mesa.

The truck was later discovered in front of the G Avenue apartment. When Romero began to check out the vehicle, someone came out of the front door of the apartment, and the officer began to question him. At that point, people started running out of the back of the three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment.

The police picked up as many as they could and kept the others in the apartment. It is estimated that there may have been as many as 70 people living in the house, which had the utilities on and television running.

For Douglas, this was the largest raid of illegal immigrants in any single location in recent memory, according to Markus Gonzalez of the Douglas Police Department.

The illegal immigrants who were caught were loaded onto a bus and taken away for questioning. The pickup was impounded.

The U.S. Border Patrol said it is investigating the incident but had no further comment Wednesday.

The Douglas Dispatch plans to have more on this story in its weekend edition.

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