Agent's quick work saves van full of migrants from plunge

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070713-1257-bn13rescue2.html

2:57 p.m. July 13, 2007

U.S. Border Patrol photo
An alert Border Patrol agent kept a van full of suspected illegal immigrants from plunging over this embankment.
SAN DIEGO – A Border Patrol agent got behind the wheel of a driverless van carrying a dozen suspected illegal immigrants and kept it from plummeting off a 50-foot embankment early Thursday, the agency said.

A Mazda MVP minivan carrying 12 people was first spotted by agents shortly after midnight traveling west on Old Highway 80 near Kitchen Creek Road east of Buckman Springs. An Acura sedan carrying two people was driving near it, Border Patrol agent Richard Smith said.

The agents attempted to stop the Mazda but it sped off, turned around, and headed east on Old Highway 80.

Plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles followed the van until it reached Miller Valley Road west of Boulevard. The driver bailed out, leaving the vehicle in gear and heading toward a rocky cliff.

The agency said the agent was able to get in the driver's seat and stop the van before it plummeted off the road. None of the passengers inside were wearing seat belts.


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All of the people in the van and the driver were arrested and are Mexican citizens. A second agent suffered multiple injuries to his knee and back as well as face lacerations and had to be hospitalized after he fell down the embankment as he tried to catch the driver.

Two U.S. citizens in the Acura, which was stopped without incident, were arrested on suspicion of illegal-immigrant smuggling.

“This is another prime example of how an illegal smuggling organization prioritizes profits over human safety,” Smith said.

Smith said it is a common practice for drivers attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants to bail out of a moving vehicle because they know the agents will attend to the endangered occupants first. That means they get a head start as they try to get away, he said.

Debbi Baker: (619) 293-1710; debbi.baker@uniontrib.com