Border Patrol detains 8 found in drainage system
2:00 a.m. March 15, 2009
SAN YSIDRO: Immigration officers detained eight people last night who entered a storm-drain system at the busy San Ysidro border crossing about 20 hours earlier.
Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a witness saw the group entering the storm drain through a grate at the 24-lane border crossing about 2 a.m.
Border Patrol agents found the people between 9 and 10 p.m., Mack said. They were in a pipe different from the one they entered.
Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told The Associated Press that the group was made up of six males, including a 16-year-old boy, and two females. None appeared to have suffered injuries after spending most of the day in the drain's 30-inch diameter pipes.
“They were dehydrated and hungry,” Bond said.
The group entered through a grate in Lane 16 in a buffer zone between the border and the inspection booth to get into San Diego.
A contractor provided a robot to search the drain system's pipes, Mack said. The robot couldn't search the entire system because of debris and other blockage. It did find two people with blankets and snacks who were either hiding or living there, Mack said.
When the robot's operator contacted the people to ask if they needed help, they fled deeper into the drainage system, Mack said. –M.F.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/15/7m15pubsafe012728-public-safety/?zIndex=67371
2:00 a.m. March 15, 2009
SAN YSIDRO: Immigration officers detained eight people last night who entered a storm-drain system at the busy San Ysidro border crossing about 20 hours earlier.
Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a witness saw the group entering the storm drain through a grate at the 24-lane border crossing about 2 a.m.
Border Patrol agents found the people between 9 and 10 p.m., Mack said. They were in a pipe different from the one they entered.
Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told The Associated Press that the group was made up of six males, including a 16-year-old boy, and two females. None appeared to have suffered injuries after spending most of the day in the drain's 30-inch diameter pipes.
“They were dehydrated and hungry,” Bond said.
The group entered through a grate in Lane 16 in a buffer zone between the border and the inspection booth to get into San Diego.
A contractor provided a robot to search the drain system's pipes, Mack said. The robot couldn't search the entire system because of debris and other blockage. It did find two people with blankets and snacks who were either hiding or living there, Mack said.
When the robot's operator contacted the people to ask if they needed help, they fled deeper into the drainage system, Mack said. –M.F.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/15/7m15pubsafe012728-public-safety/?zIndex=67371