Border Patrol

CALEXICO - United States Border Patrol agents arrested two gang members trying to illegally enter the U.S. in separate incidents Sunday, according to a press release. Around 12 a.m., agents saw a 26-year-old Mexican national enter the U.S. illegally, and they stopped him before he entered a neighborhood east of downtown Calexico. Agents determined that the man is an active gang member out of Riverside with an extensive criminal history related to gang activity and already sentenced to more than 24 months in prison.

IMPERIAL - Lauren Ripley, 7, giggled as an El Centro Sector Border Patrol agent asked her name, age, weight and whether she has any tattoos as she was fingerprinted during a mock exercise activity Friday morning. Ripley is one of about 35 children between the ages of 4 and 17 who have been participating in a summer camp offered to children of El Centro Sector Border Patrol employees over the past seven weeks. It's the first year for the eight-week summer program that will culminate next week with a pool party at Naval Air Facility El Centro.

CALEXICO - Officials here are concerned that actions by El Centro Sector U.S. Border Patrol agents endangered citizens as well as city employees during a shooting at the Calexico downtown Port of Entry on Monday. Agents pursuing a vehicle suspected to be involved in illegal immigrant smuggling threw down tire spikes in front of the car as it headed toward Mexico and then shot multiple rounds at the car, causing it to catch fire. One of the occupants was wounded, and all three occupants were arrested.

CALEXICO --- U.S. Border Patrol agents uncovered this week a convicted felon with a past history of felony sex crimes among a group of undocumented immigrants caught trying to illegally cross the border, according to a press release. Agents working near the east Port of Entry early Tuesday arrested a group of five undocumented aliens and when they were brought in for processing at the Border Patrol station it was discovered that one of them was a convicted sex offender who had been previously deported, the statement read.

CALEXICO - Border Patrol agents seized 238 pounds of marijuana valued at more than $190,000 after apprehending two men swimming across the All-American Canal with backpacks filled with the drugs Tuesday evening. With the use of a remote video surveillance system, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico station saw the two men, both Mexican citizens ages 39 and 47, trying to swim while towing large backpacks around 7 p.m., according to a press release. The men appeared to be having difficulty swimming with the large backpacks, and one abandoned his pack and swam to the north bank of the canal.

More information has been released about the blaze that destroyed a motor home and three quarters of the Border Patrol checkpoint near Palo Verde on Sunday evening. A trailer fire at the Border Patrol inspection area on Highway 78 was reported at 4 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol traffic incident information page. “The fire from there went into the building,” said an Imperial County firefighter who was on scene Sunday and declined to give her name.

  OCOTILLO --- A Mexican national who was wanted on a 2005 murder warrant out of Colorado was arrested as he was among six people caught allegedly trying to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico, a press statement read. U.S. Border Patrol agents Sunday caught the group in Ocotillo and later identified 48-year-old Raul Ramirez-Perez during a records check, the press statement reported. Ramirez was deported from the U.S. in 1995 before a warrant from Montrose County in Colorado issued 10 years later for the charges of assault and murder, the statement read.

We would like to know what can be done about our bad neighbor, Border Patrol. Those of us that live near them are going without sleep. They have buses running down our street at all hours of the day and night. They sit outside of the gate on 14th Street and honk their horns, run the buses and gas us out. They sometimes line up two or three buses at a time. They have ruined the street. We have tried to talk to “people in charge” about using the gate off of Imperial Avenue, and have been told that they are “trying to fix it.” They used to go in and out off of Imperial Avenue.

A man indicted for the slaying of a Border Patrol agent two years ago had fled to Mexico in a Border Patrol vehicle about three months before the agent’s death, according to court documents. Jesus Navarro-Montes was arrested Sept. 23, 2007, after U.S. Border Patrol agents chased him in a Toyota pickup seen exiting the Buttercup campground in the Imperial Sand Dunes area and heading east on Interstate 8, the statement of facts of the unsealed court document read. Border Patrol agents were watching the sand dunes area and saw the pickup and tried to have the driver pull over.

> > 50 Years Ago   - CALEXICO - The quick action of fireman Jack Goodspeed possibly save the life of two-year-old Josephina Ruelas yesterday. Fireman Goodspeed answered an ambulance call to a residence in Calexico. Mrs. Eva Ruelas said her baby was having trouble breathing. On the way to the hospital, Goodspeed stuck his finger in the baby's mouth to make her regurgitate. Up came a piece of plastic and the baby was breathing normally again.   > > 40 Years Ago   - A “more rapid than anticipated” deterioration of the scores of bridges on Highway 86 between Westmorland and Indio may speed up state Division of Highways plans for replacing the road with a freeway or, at least, an expressway.

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro station arrested a convicted sex offender in the Mount Signal desert area on Thursday, according to a press release from the local station. The 39-year-old man was apprehended by Border Patrol agents after he attempted to enter the U.S. illegally from Mexico at around 8:50 p.m. The man was transported to the El Centro Border Patrol Station where agents identified him as Hector Maya Ramirez, a citizen of Mexico. Criminal record checks revealed that Maya is a convicted sex offender.

Long waits at Northend checkpoints was another issue raised to U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a high-ranking Democrat, upon her visit to Imperial County Monday.  Sanchez (D-Orange) came before the Imperial County Board of Supervisors after reportedly meeting with Baja California officials and learning about an upcoming west port of entry in Mexicali that the Mexican government is preparing to fund. In this meeting Supervisor John Renison reiterated to Sanchez the need to have Public Private Partnership permitting legislation to fund the Calexico West Port of Entry project, but this conversation was brief compared with the presentation made by Supervisor Ryan Kelley earlier in that meeting.

HOLTVILLE - About $10,000 worth of farm equipment was taken from an area near the intersection of McCabe and Barbara Worth roads southwest of Holtville, according to Imperial County Sheriff's Office logs. The property reported stolen includes multiple motors for carrot harvesters. The theft occurred between 4:30 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 a.m. Monday. No suspect information was immediately available, according to the logs. The parts were taken from a trailer where the lock was cut. Suspicious people reported at gas station OCOTILLO - Two people were turned over to Border Patrol agents after Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call of suspicious people at a gas station in Ocotillo, according to Sheriff's Office logs.

CALEXICO, EL CENTRO AND INDIO - Arrests of 15 people recently arrested by El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents have resulted in 15 successful convictions, according to a press release. All the arrests occurred earlier this year near the communities of Calexico, El Centro and Indio. Several of those arrested have extensive criminal histories and were all presented for prosecution on federal criminal charges. All of them will be deported to their country of origin after serving their prison sentences.

CALEXICO - United States Border Patrol agents arrested two gang members trying to illegally enter the U.S. in separate incidents Sunday, according to a press release. Around 12 a.m., agents saw a 26-year-old Mexican national enter the U.S. illegally, and they stopped him before he entered a neighborhood east of downtown Calexico. Agents determined that the man is an active gang member out of Riverside with an extensive criminal history related to gang activity and already sentenced to more than 24 months in prison.

Members of the community have rallied support for the family of the Border Patrol agent who died in a car collision March 22. Agent Francisco Puga, 26, died while driving to work, and the collision is being investigated by California Highway Patrol. The Calexico native had just been married at the end of last year, and as his family mourns, both the local Border Patrol union and a law enforcement motorcycle club are helping to ease their stress. While his family will receive standard insurance benefits, he wasn't considered on duty at the time of the accident so his wife won't receive federal compensation provided to fallen agents.

Border Patrol agents stopped a drug-smuggling attempt earlier this week, seizing more than 80 pounds of marijuana. El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio station apprehended a suspected drug smuggler and seized more than $66,000 worth of marijuana Wednesday, according to a press release from the agency. Border Patrol agents encountered a 34-year-old woman driving a 2006 Dodge Durango about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday as she approached the Highway 86 checkpoint between Westmorland and Salton City, according to the press release.

A 26-year-old off-duty Border Patrol agent died in a car collision Friday afternoon southeast of El Centro. Agent Francisco Puga with the El Centro Station died at the scene of the collision at the intersection of Bowker and McCabe roads while on his way to work, according to officials with the local Border Patrol union. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the collision, which also sent a woman to El Centro Regional Medical Center with moderate injuries that were not disclosed by the Highway Patrol.