Border agent's dad arrested on immigration charges

The agent was arrested this month on a charge of harboring illegal immigrants

San Diego Union Tribune
January 24, 2011
By Debbi Baker
SAN DIEGO, CA

The father of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was wanted on charges of being in the United States illegally after being deported following a drug conviction has turned himself into federal authorities, the FBI said Monday.

Marcos G. Manzano Sr,, 46, was taken into custody about 11 a.m. Sunday after surrendering near the Border Patrol Station in San Ysidro, FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said.

His son, Marcos G. Manzano Jr., was arrested Jan. 10 at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station where he worked.

He is accused of harboring illegal immigrants — including his father — and for making false statements, Foxworth said.

Prosecutors alleged in federal court that the elder Manzano had been seen at his son’s San Ysidro home several times since September 2009, when federal agents began surveillance there, and the son lied about knowing the whereabouts of his father when questioned by a fellow Border Patrol agent.

The morning after the son’s arrest, FBI agents, Border Patrol agents and San Diego police surrounded his home on Shooting Star Drive looking for the father.

Agents didn’t find the elder Manzano at the house but did arrest Jose A. Garrido-Morena, 26, of Mexico, who was previously deported and in the county illegally.

He was found hiding underneath a table in an underground room beneath the backyard patio.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in court that the room was used to hide illegal immigrants or drugs or both.

Authorities also found a little more than 2 ounces of methamphetamine at the house and what was described as a “substantialâ€