January 20, 2017
Kate Morrissey

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested two men Thursday evening who were seen crossing the border about three and a half miles east of the Calexico port of entry, according to the agency.

The men, ages 26 and 22, are both Mexican citizens, the agency said in a news release. They admitted to affiliations with the Sureño gang, based out of Los Angeles, according to the agency. The men had no criminal records, but one had been returned to Mexico several times in civil proceedings.

They jumped the border fence in a flat area of agricultural fields, irrigation canals and dirt roads and proceeded on foot into the country, according to Alessio Faccin, spokesman for the El Centro sector of Border Patrol. He said two roads run from that area to Highway 98. For most trying to cross the border without permission, getting to a main thoroughfare is key to disappearing into the country.

The two men will be returned to Mexico, Faccin said. Using a process called expedited removal, border officials will not be required to take the two men to see an immigration judge. Instead, the office can determine that they are inadmissible to the U.S. and send them back across the border.

Faccin said because the agency had proof that the men entered illegally and planned to stay, the two men were administratively charged with illegal entry. That is not a criminal charge, but it does block border crossers from obtaining permission to enter the U.S. for five years.

Those sent back are not generally criminally charged with illegal entry unless they are known to be chronic offenders, commit other crimes or have criminal histories. Neither man was criminally charged in this case, according to Faccin.

The men will be taken by bus to Arizona or Texas for deportation, Faccin said, after officials take their photos and gather fingerprints.

"By displacing them we disrupt any contact with local smuggling organizations,” he explained.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...120-story.html