Border patrol searching city for two illegal immigrants
Issue date: 8/27/08

Two illegal immigrants are at large in Lubbock after U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a van carrying at least nine illegal immigrants during a stop at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at 70th Street and Avenue P.

Border Patrol agents stopped a minivan with Florida license plates suspected of carrying illegal immigrants on South Loop 289, said Agent Victor Griffin with the United States Border Patrol in Lubbock.

When agents walked to the minivan, the driver of the vehicle drove away and the agents pursued the vehicle to a location near 70th Street and Avenue P, where the illegal immigrants tried to escape by foot.

Officers from the Lubbock Police Department and Lubbock Sheriff's Department are aiding the Border Patrol in searching for the remaining two people.

Griffin said he does not believe the illegal immigrants are a threat to the public because of their suspected reason for being in the Lubbock area.

"What we're finding out is, it looks like it's a crew that came out here to do some work remodeling somewhere," he said. "Of course, they're not going to give the location of where they were working."

Griffin said the illegal immigrants are suspected citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.

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