YUMA, Ariz. – Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents intercepted four separate migrant smuggling attempts over the weekend.
Friday afternoon, agents conducted a vehicle stop on a red Nissan Sentra on Avenue B and Highway 195. Agents determined that a U.S. citizen male driver was smuggling four migrants in his vehicle. Record checks conducted on the 22-year-old driver revealed that he was on federal probation for smuggling drugs through the San Luis Port of Entry. All vehicle occupants were placed under arrest and the vehicle was seized.
While agents were on scene with the previous incident, a concerned citizen stopped and informed them that he witnessed individuals on the side of the road getting into a vehicle just west of their location. The vehicle, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, then passed the agents’ location. Agents pursued the vehicle and attempted to pull it over. The driver failed to yield and eventually entered a residential area. The driver stopped near Avenue F and Los Olivos Street where four individuals exited the vehicle and fled on foot. He then pulled away and continued to ignore Border Patrol lights and sirens, before finally pulling over again near the exit of the neighborhood.
The four occupants who fled the vehicle were tracked into a backyard and found hiding in an empty trailer. Agents arrested the 18-year-old male driver and 18-year-old female passenger, both U.S. citizens, and the four migrants and seized the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, agents found a loaded 9mm handgun in the glove box, which was also seized.
Early Sunday morning, agents apprehended a migrant smuggling load along Interstate 8 east of Andrade, California. As Yuma Sector Communications personnel monitored cameras in the area, they spotted three individuals get into a Chevrolet Suburban along the interstate near the Andrade Road exit and head east. Agents in the area stopped the vehicle and discovered a 36-year-old male U.S. citizen smuggling three migrants. Agents arrested the driver and the migrants and seized the vehicle.
Later that afternoon, Yuma Sector Communications personnel spotted another group of migrants running from the border area into the Quechan parking lot. Three of the group got into a red Toyota Tundra that was waiting in the parking lot and the fourth, who appeared to be a guide, turned around and headed back to Mexico. Border Patrol agents in the area were able to intercept the truck before it exited the parking lot. The driver and passenger, both 25-year-old male U.S. citizens, were arrested and the vehicle was seized. Agents also apprehended the three migrants, one of whom was a 16-year-old unaccompanied male.
the Andrade Road exit