http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... 82f85.html

Another border assault reported

Web Posted: 05/18/2006 12:00 AM CDT

Jesse Bogan
Rio Grande Valley Bureau

Federal and Hidalgo County authorities have failed to stop a wave of alleged sexual assaults on immigrants crossing the Rio Grande in the same area south of McAllen.

A Salvadoran woman in her late teens or early twenties told U.S. Border Patrol agents that she was assaulted Tuesday afternoon near Anzalduas Dam, a popular picnic area. The assault occurred during a holdup by four men with guns and machetes on the group of 25 immigrants who were later apprehended.

It was the third such attack in the past two weeks in the same area by men fitting the same description, but this time the reported attack happened around 5 p.m. rather than early morning hours.

"We are stepping up enforcement in the area. However, when we did so the bandits changed their tactics to the daylight hours," said Roy Cervantes, an Edinburg-based spokesman for the patrol.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, the patrol, and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement are handling the investigation.

"There is something being done because we are looking into the case, we are working closely with the people who have come forward and given us the information," said San Antonio-based Immigration and Custom's Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda.

"Unfortunately another incident occurred," she said, "but that's why we are working around the clock to make certain we don't have any more of this type of situation that these women have to encounter."