Smuggler leads California agents on chase with 11 piled in pickup, Border Patrol says
Two smugglers were caught this week — and 15 people were arrested — after U.S. Border Patrol agents foiled a pair of human-smuggling incidents in Southern California, according to federal officials.
Both smugglers were U.S. citizens, accused of bringing a dozen Mexican nationals into the country, Border Patrol agents in East San Diego County said in a news release Friday.
Agents stopped the first smuggler around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, after surveillance equipment showed “a group of people running north from the U.S/Mexico international border into the U.S.” near Boulevard, California, border agents said.
As agents arrived, 11 people clambered into a Ford truck, wedging their bodies “into the cab and under the bed cover as the truck sped away,” border agents said.
Agents tracked down the truck quickly and tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver sped off, according to the Border Patrol. A tire deflation device was used minutes later, bringing the truck to a stop on Tierra Del Sol Road.
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That’s when the driver, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested on alien smuggling charges, border agents said. He’s in federal custody and agents said his truck was seized.
The passengers — four Mexican men, six Mexican women and one 15-year-old Mexican girl — weren’t injured in the getaway but “are being processed for removal,” agents said.
A few hours later, a second smuggler in a gray Toyota Corolla was stopped at a checkpoint on State Route 94 in Jamul, California, agents said.
As an agent started to question him, the man sped off toward Jamul and agents chased after him — but during the pursuit he slowed down at one point and two men hopped out of the moving car’s trunk, according to the Border Patrol.
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An agent stopped to catch the two men while others followed the driver until he stopped on State Route 94 and Melody Street, where he was arrested, agents said. No one was injured in the second smuggling incident, either.
Both men who leapt from the truck were identified as Mexican nationals and will be sent back, according to the Border Patrol.
The driver, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen, is in federal custody on alien smuggling charges, agents said. His car was seized.
Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said in a statement that the smugglers’ actions show “their indifference for the lives of those involved and the driving public.”
“Fortunately, these events came to a safe conclusion and ended with the drivers in custody,” Harrison said. “I am proud of the hard work our agents carry out to protect our communities from the dangerous smugglers.”
