22 arrested at San Clemente checkpoint

By Susan Shroder, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 6:51 p.m.

NORTH COUNTY— Twenty-two suspected illegal immigrants were apprehended Wednesday at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in San Clemente after coming ashore earlier in a boat near Camp Pendleton, authorities said.

The group included two juveniles, one a 16-year-old who said she was pregnant, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said.

They were among 23 people in a van that was stopped about 7:30 a.m. at the border checkpoint and sent to secondary inspection.

The driver, a 32-year-old male Mexican national who had a valid border crossing card, and a 42-year-old male passenger, were arrested on suspicion of alien smuggling, the CBP said. The passenger accompanied the group on the boat as they illegally entered the United States, the CBP said.

Five men in the group had criminal histories, and one was being sought on two felony arrest warrants, the CBP said.

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