Thread: Suspected Illegal Immigrants Found in Calif. Pipe

Suspected Illegal Immigrants Found in Calif. Pipe

Sunday, March 15, 2009 3:18 AM

SAN DIEGO -- Eight suspected illegal immigrants, including a 16-year-old boy, were found inside a drainage pipe at the nation's busiest border crossing late Saturday after a daylong search by authorities.

None of the six males and two females appeared to have suffered serious injury, said Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"They were dehydrated and hungry," Bond said.

Investigators planned to interview the group and determine their nationalities.

Authorities began searching for the group after a motorist reported seeing about 12 people enter a storm drain in front of inspection booths at the San Ysidro port of entry that connects San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. However, surveillance cameras showed only eight went into the storm drain opening.

The opening is in American territory just south of San Ysidro's 24 vehicle inspection booths, Bond said. To get in, they removed a grate in one of the middle lanes.

The opening connects to a 30-inch-wide drainage pipe that extends about 100 yards west under Interstate 5 to an open channel in San Diego, Bond said.

Searchers sent in a robot to look for the group, and at one point it spotted two people inside the pipe but they fled before authorities reached them.

About 40,000 vehicles enter the U.S. daily at the crossing.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/illegal_drain ... 91998.html

Added to Home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article4038.html

Illegal Immigrant Found in Storm Drain Was Repeat Offender

Posted: March 15, 2009 05:26 PM

Updated: March 15, 2009 06:16 PM

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed that one of the eight suspected illegal immigrants found in a storm drain in San Ysidro was arrested after he was identified as a repeat offender.

The man, whose name was not provided, had been deported previously, so he was arrested on suspicion of re-entry after deportation, said Vince Bond of CBP.

Overall, five men, two women and a 16-year-old boy, were located inside the pipe under the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Federal agents were inspecting an uncovered drainage hole just feet from the international border at about 2 a.m. Saturday when a motorist reported having seen several people jump into the drain, Bond said.

A robotic camera confirmed their presence, he said. The eight were removed around 9:30 p.m.

Bond said the Mexican nationals were dehydrated and hungry but not seriously injured.

The juvenile was turned over to the Mexican consulate in San Diego, according to Bond. The others were returned to Mexico.
http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=10010552

California News

Immigrants found in drain pipe deported
Monday, March 16, 2009

San Ysidro, Calif. (KABC) -- Six of the eight illegal immigrants found trapped in a drain pipe near the San Ysidro, Calif. port of entry have been returned to Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

Customs officials say two females and six males, including a 16-year-old, were inside the 30-inch drainage pipe, just yards from the border station.

They were discovered after officials inspecting an uncovered drainage hole near the U.S.-Mexico border were told by a motorist that several people had jumped into the storm drain.

A robotic camera was sent into the pipe and located the trapped people. A witness says the group entered the drain Saturday morning. They were found later that night.

The two women and four of the men were returned to Mexico.

Another man who had previously been deported was placed under arrest as a repeat offender, and a 16-year-old boy was turned over to the Mexican consulate in San Diego.

(Copyright ©2009 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... 2&pt=print