Sleeping Children, Infant Seat Used to Conceal Illegal Immigration Attempt at San Diego Border Crossing

 


San Diego — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Monday stopped an illegal immigration attempt at the San Ysidro port of entry, finding a Mexican woman concealed under the back seat of a car, with an infant seat and sleeping children on top of the hidden seat compartment.

Hidden under the rear seat, covered with blankets and a child’s carseat, is a compartment with an illegal immigrant inside.

At about 6 a.m. a 26-year-old female U.S. citizen, and resident of Tijuana, drove a red 1996 Ford Thunderbird to the border crossing with her two sons in the car with her, apparently asleep.

The CBP officer referred the car and occupants for further inspection, where officers discovered a woman hidden in a hollowed-out area under the vehicle’s back seat.

The woman, a Mexican citizen with no legal ability to enter the U.S., will be a material witness.

CBP officers seized the vehicle and arrested the driver; she is currently being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and will face federal charges. Her two sons were turned over to a relative.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.