Deportee’s Daring Escape Prompts Multi-Agency Response

YUMA – A deportee was the subject of a search by personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies after he made a daring escape.

The escapee, a 22-year-old Honduran national, broke out the emergency hatch of the bus taking him and others to the border to be returned to Mexico.

He escaped into the Gadsden area near County 19 Street and Highway 95.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 27, multiple agencies scoured the area of Gadsden looking for the escapee after the driver of a contracted security company that provides transportation services for the Border Patrol reported the escape.

The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, Somerton Police Department, Yuma Air Branch, Border Patrol Tactical Unit and the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue Unit assisted Yuma Border Patrol agents in their search for the subject.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., a Yuma agent found the subject hiding in a drainage culvert in the area. He was arrested and returned to the Yuma Border Patrol station for further processing.

deporteeescapeU S Customs and Border Protection