July 21, 2007
Immigrants flee after early morning traffic stop
Lauren Gilger, Tribune
When police pulled over a semi-truck around 12:30 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 10 near the Santan stretch of Loop 202 for an attempted traffic stop, they found more than just a traffic violator.

The westbound freightliner was harboring an estimated 20 to 40 illegal immigrants, authorities said. The illegal immigrants bailed out and ran over the fence and off of the freeway when the truck was pulled over, Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Larson said.

Officers managed to catch 11 of them, and Larson said they are now in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The rest of the people who scattered remain at large.

Larson said police assumed the operators of the truck were “coyotes,â€