Border drainage tunnel draws immigrants
By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago



PHOENIX - Thirty-eight illegal immigrants balanced on a catwalk inside a tunnel they hoped would take them to the United States.

Flood waters rose above their feet as they struggled to stand, but the ranging waters swept four of them away, to the horror of their companions.

U.S. Border Patrol agents who rescued the other 34 immigrants say rather than risk getting caught by agents above ground, the smuggler tried moving his human cargo in the flood-control tunnel underneath Nogales, Ariz., and a Mexican border town by the same name.

Until three years ago, the Grand Tunnel was a popular route among border crossers. Traffic subsided after the Border Patrol installed doors to the tunnel, but the doors have to be opened when flood waters come, otherwise Nogales, Mexico, would be inundated.

When that happens, smugglers try to sneak in drugs or illegal immigrants.

The 38 immigrants who braved flood waters Thursday had entered the tunnel around 4 a.m., said Nogales police Sgt. Jack Lopez, who interviewed four survivors. At the time, a thunderstorm was brewing.

About 5 a.m., they noticed the water was rising and moving faster, until it was rushing by them, Lopez said the immigrants told him. Then, a woman about 40 years old slipped and fell. A woman in her early 20s tried saving her, but she also succumbed to the water.

Some survivors said the two women swept away were mother and daughter, Lopez said. Later, the immigrants saw a man and woman in their late 20s taken away by the water.

The 34 remaining immigrants then decided to flag down a Border Patrol agent, and had to be pulled up from 12 feet below.

A search has been called off, and there's been no sign of the man and three women.

Lopez said the four immigrants he interviewed were scared. "Basically, they didn't think they were going to survive it," he said.

The 34 illegal immigrants were deported to Mexico, said Jesus "Chuy" Rodriguez, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said it's amazing anyone made it out alive.

"These currents are pretty treacherous, swift, powerful and deceptive because people don't know they're coming," he said. "They just got blind-sided."

That the smuggler was willing to take that chance is no surprise, he said.

"They'll try just about everything they can, and if it means using the wash and risking it and hoping nothing will happen, they'll do it," Estrada said.

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