Over the week, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents were kept busy by the over 1,600 undocumented migrants who entered the country illegally. Then on Tuesday, agents intercepted smugglers with a 4-year-old boy in tow.
Of the over 1,600 illegal migrants Border Patrol agents apprehended, 260 migrants were apprehended in three larger groups, 84 on Friday morning, 87 on Saturday morning and 89 Sunday morning, all near County Road 13 and the Levee Road in Yuma. Thirteen of the arrested individuals were from special interest countries. Special interest countries may present a terrorist threat and include Iran, North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Libya, South Yemen, and Sudan.
Border Patrol agents also responded to two rescues in the desert for subjects that had crossed illegally: and a woman lost in the desert near Wellton who was flown to Goodyear, Arizona for further treatment.
In the Tuesday incident, Yuma Sector agents arrested two suspected smugglers as they attempted to illegally transport migrants from the border. Yuma Sector camera operators observed two men and a four-year-old boy, illegally cross the border near County 14 and quickly get into a silver sedan waiting on a canal bridge.
The driver, a convicted felon, immediately drove east on County 14 at a dangerous speed. The driver continued south at a high rate of speed over farm roads eventually losing control of the vehicle and swerving into a field. An Air and Marine helicopter on patrol in the area maintained visual on the subjects until ground agents arrived.
Agents arrested three migrants, the U.S. Citizen driver, and a U.S. Citizen passenger. A search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a firearm.
Yuma Sector will be presenting the case to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Arizona for prosecution for alien smuggling, felon in possession of a firearm and child endangerment.