Agencies Come Together To Rescue Migrants After Long Search

border patrol
[Photo courtesy Border Patrol]

GILA BEND – Three agencies, Tucson Sector Border Patrol, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, rescued two distressed men lost in the desert near Gila Bend.

Since Friday, Tucson Sector agents have rescued 15 different people in eight separate incidents throughout southern Arizona.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, just before midnight Sunday, a local emergency response call center routed a 911 call to Tucson Sector agents from two men claiming to be in lost in the desert. Dispatchers provided a general search area to agents who, with the assistance of an Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) helicopter, located the men several hours later in a remote area near Gila Bend. Difficult terrain forced the MCSO helicopter to drop off Emergency Medical Technicians, one a Tucson Sector agent and the other a Gila Bend Fire Department firefighter.

The EMTs medically stabilized the two men, who were found to be illegally present in the country, shortly after 6 a.m. The men were then airlifted to a local hospital by Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) Helicopter Trooper-Paramedics.

“This rescue illustrates the expertise and dedication, not only of the Border Patrol Agents at the Ajo Station, but of the first responders that serve our communities”, said Rob Allen, Acting Patrol Agent in Charge of the Ajo Station. “With rising temperatures in southern Arizona, they are a beacon of hope to those who find themselves lost or stranded in the desert.”

Both men will be processed for immigration violations once they are discharged from the hospital.

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