Yesterday was a busy day for ICE: 48 plus

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Phoenix-area busts yield 48 illegal immigrants
PHOENIX — On Thursday and Friday, officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested two suspected human smugglers and turned 48 illegal immigrants over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The busts were made in the Phoenix area.
The first incident occurred on Thursday just before 6 a.m. when a motorcycle officer came upon a disabled pickup blocking the westbound off-ramp of 83rd Avenue along Interstate 10. The officer discovered several people under a large piece of plywood in the bed of the truck. A total of 13 suspected illegal immigrants were turned over to ICE. Two men, who were outside of the truck, fled on foot.
At about 11:25 a.m. that day, a Department of Public Safety officer stopped a Chevrolet Suburban traveling west on Interstate 10 in west Buckeye. The officer discovered the driver had a suspended driver’s license and, as a result, the officer began conducting a 30-day impound on the vehicle. As he was taking inventory of the vehicle, he saw a person’s foot under a blanket. This led him to the discovery of several people. Four men and one female were turned over to ICE.
Just after 5:30 a.m. Friday, a department officer stopped a Chevrolet pickup traveling west on Interstate 10 approaching the U.S. 60 interchange. The driver failed to yield and finally pulled over, where all of the vehicle’s occupants fled on foot. The occupants in the bed of the truck had been hiding under a large piece of plywood. The driver and the other 13 occupants were apprehended. One occupant was pregnant woman and hadn’t had food or water in four days.
About 6:30 a.m., a motorcycle officer tried to stop a pickup traveling west on I-10 at Ray Road when the driver exited at Ray Road, moved to turn right, then suddenly made a U-turn. The truck stopped and four occupants from the front seat fled and were soon captured at a restaurant. The remaining occupants, four in the back seat and nine under large piece of plywood, did not flee. Of the 17 in total, three were female and two were juvenile.

Border Patrol
Here’s a look at notable actions recently by
the Border Patrol:

Douglas station
• Agents arrested a member of the Sureño 13 gang on Thursday who was in the country illegally. He was held for processing.
• Agents apprehended an illegal immigrant Tuesday, and fingerprint records revealed an arrest and charge of criminal solicitation and harassment. He was held for further processing.
• Agents on Monday checked fingerprint records of on an illegal immigrant in custody and discovered he had been convicted of second-degree felony indecency with a child/sexual contact and class A misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury. He was held for further processing.
Casa Grande station
• Agents from the Casa Grande Station were processing an illegal immigrant in custody Tuesday when fingerprint records revealed a conviction for DUI vehicular manslaughter. The man was held for further processing.
• Agents assisted the Tohono O’odham Police Department with the discovery of more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value exceeding $1.6 million.
Department of Homeland Security reports
http://www.svherald.com/content/news...gal-immigrants

At least 30 illegal immigrants detained in Tempe, Chandler busts
TEMPE and CHANDLER -- At least 30 suspected illegal immigrants are in custody after two separate traffic stops led to busts -- one at Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe, the other along Interstate 10 in Chandler.
The first incident started when the Department of Public Safety tried to make a traffic stop near Interstate 10 and Baseline Road at about 5:30 Friday morning. Some of the occupants of the suspect vehicle got out and fled the scene.
Officers rounded up all but one. That person, a woman, was caught a short time later on the north side of the mall.
Aerial video showed the 15 to 20 detainees sitting around a tree amid several police cars.
The second incident took place about an hour later some five miles away in Chandler.
In that incident, DPS tried to stop a pickup truck that was making unsafe lane changes in the area of I-10 and Ray Road, but the driver took off. The pickup ended up getting back on the highway, driving east on the westbound on ramp to I-10. The driver and three people in the pickup's cab bailed out and fled on foot, but were later caught at a nearby Denny's.
When DPS officers took a closer look at the truck, they found several people hiding under some plywood and blankets.
Aerial video showed at least three people laying the bed of the red pickup, which was facing the wrong direction on the road. According to DPS, 17 people, including two juveniles and three women, were in that truck.
Those detained in Chandler told 3TV's Javier Soto that they had been staying at a drop house in Casa Grande after five days of walking through the desert.
At this point, investigators do not know who the smugglers are.
"We suspect one of them was the driver, but we're unable to prove it at this time" said DPS Sgt. Troy Titzler. "None of the other occupants are willing to identify him."
This isn't the first time DPS has encountered suspected illegal immigrants hiding under plywood covering the bed of a pickup truck.
"This is the third type of arrangement we've seen ... involving a pickup truck and illegals underneath a huge piece of plywood," said Bart Graves of the Department of Public Safety.
One of those incidents took place Thursday morning and involved 13 suspected illegal immigrants. The other incident was about two weeks ago and involved a high speed chase through the West Valley. That bust actually led investigators to a drop house.
DPS does not believe any of these situations, including the two Friday incidents, are related.
"There are a number of different cartels that in the human-smuggling business," Graves said. "They are all just competing with each other."
The suspected illegal immigrants were all turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
No injuries were reported in either incident.
http://www.azfamily.com/news/More-th...-89767087.html

THIS JUST IN: Twice smugglers pulled over by DPS Friday morning
On Friday morning Department of Public Safety officers twice attempted routine traffic stops on Interstate 10 in Ahwatukee Foothills and twice ended up racing to capture what they suspect were fleeing illegal immigrants.
According to Officer Robert Bailey, a DPS spokesman at the scene, the first stop occurred April 2 around 5:30 a.m. on I-10 near Arizona Mills Mall. Bailey said a DPS officer pulled over a Chevrolet pick-up truck during a routine traffic stop and 14 suspected illegal immigrants scattered.
The driver, 22-year-old Rafael Velarde-Tirado of Mexico, was arrested and booked for human smuggling. The 13 others were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bailey said that an hour later, a DPS motorcycle officer attempted another routine traffic stop, but as the vehicle exited the freeway at Ray Road, it made a sudden U-turn.
Bailey said the Ford F-150 then drove eastbound on the shoulder of the westbound I-10 towards Chandler Boulevard before it stopped and another 17 suspected illegal aliens attempted to flee.
In both cases no one was injured, but Bailey said that a woman in the first stop was pregnant and complained to officers that she hadn’t had any water in four days.
This was the second stop in the last week where suspected coyotes have used plywood to cover the bed of a pickup truck containing a large number of illegal immigrants, police said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took the people into custody.
Interstate 10 is a major smuggling corridor into the United States. Other incidents locally include:
• October 2009: 24 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody at I-10 near the Broadway curve.
• June 2009: Seven suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody after a routine traffic stop on I-10 ended at Warner Road near 48th Street.
• April 2009: 15 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody near Wild Horse Pass on I-10.
• February 2009: 19 illegal immigrants and two smugglers were taken into custody at I-10 and Ray Road.
• January 2008: 11 illegal immigrants taken into custody at I-10 and Elliot Road.
• February 2008: 18 illegal immigrants taken into custody at I-10 and Ray Road.
• July 2007rop house in Ahwatukee Foothills with 19 illegal immigrants.
• February 2007: Five illegal immigrants kidnapped at gunpoint by smugglers at 50th Street and Ray Road.
• November 2003:A shootout between rival smuggling operations that began near Casa Grande ended at I-10 and Elliot Road with four dead and three wounded.
http://www.ahwatukee.com/news/stop-9...attempted.html

[Rim05]

[B]How can all that be? I keep hearing that they are leaving the US. Lately the stories just don't match.[B]

[REWHBLCAIN]

Oh ya, just warms my heart!