Border Patrol arrests 13 migrants, including two men claiming to be children
Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images
YUMA, Ariz. (FOX 5 NY) - According to U.S Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents working in Arizona and in California rescued 13 migrants, including a pregnant woman and two men falsely claiming to be children this week.
On September 3, agents near Yuma, Arizona found footprints along the U.S./Mexico border near before finding two people who entered the U.S. illegally, a pregnant woman and a man claiming to be a minor.
The woman, who showed signs of dehydration was given assistance by the agents and was taken to the Yuma Regional Medical Center for further care before being released into Border Patrol Custody.
The man initially claimed to be a 17-year-old from Guatemala, but agents discovered he was actually a 24-year-old Mexican. The man told agents that a human smuggler advised him to make the fraudulent claim, as that would ensure his release into the U.S by law enforcement.
Both migrants were processed for immigration violations.
In a second incident on September 4, agents near Blythe, California were informed that nine migrants were traveling through the desert. Shortly afterwards California Highway Patrol received a 9-1-1 call from an individual in the same group reporting that he and eight others were stranded without water.
After being located by CHP, the group were provided water at the scene, given a medical assessment and placed into custody to be processed for immigration violations.
Later that day, agents near Yuma found two men, one of whom was unconscious and apparently suffering from heat exhaustion, the other also suffering from heat exhaustion and claiming to be a 17-year-old teen. Through an investigation, the alleged teenager was determined to be a 24-year-old Mexican man.
Both were taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center by ambulance and treated before being released and processed for immigration violations.
The two 24-year-old men from Mexico in the above incidents were later found to be brothers who had traveled separately and were instructed by a smuggler to make the false claim.