TUCSON – On Thursday, near Douglas in an area under Border wall construction, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 10 Mexican nationals after they entered the country illegally.
The smuggler’s vehicle had crossed the Border through a small area where the Border wall was still under construction. The smugglers used wood boards to act as a bridge to drive over the already excavated footings and into the United States.
According to U.S. Border Patrol, at approximately 5:30 a.m., agents stopped a vehicle for an immigration inspection on Geronimo Trail Road. Agents found seven people inside the vehicle, six of which were attempting to conceal themselves. Agents then discovered three more people inside the trunk.
At the Douglas Border Patrol Station, records checks revealed that all ten, including the driver, were citizens of Mexico between the ages of 14 and 40-years-old.
All ten people in the vehicle were expelled to Mexico under Title 42 authority.
DID YOU KNOW?
From U.S. Homeland Security:
On March 21, 2020 the President, in accordance with Title 42 of the United States Code Section 265, determined that by reason of existence of COVID-19 in Mexico and Canada, there is a serious danger of the further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States; that prohibition on the introduction of persons or property, in whole or in part, from Mexico and Canada is required in the interest of public health. Under this order, CBP is prohibiting the entry of certain persons who potentially pose a health risk, either by virtue of being subject to previously announced travel restrictions or because they unlawfully entered the country to bypass health screening measures. To help prevent the introduction of COVID-19 into border facilities and into the United States, persons subject to the order will not be held in congregate areas for processing and instead will immediately be expelled to their country of last transit. In the event a person cannot be returned to the country of last transit, CBP works with interagency partners to secure expulsion to the person’s country of origin and hold the person for the shortest time possible.
Expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration enforcement actions, such as apprehension or inadmissibility, that are regularly reported by CBP.