Border agents rescue 20 migrants from flooded drain pipe on Thanksgiving, video shows
Federal agents found three migrants trying to sneak into a drainage tube on the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California on Thanksgiving — and dozens more were discovered inside the flooding pipe, according to federal officials.
Border patrol agents from the San Diego Sector worked with local first responders to save 20 people from the pipe amid “unusually heavy rains” during a “harsh night” on Thursday and Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a news release.
“Inclement weather conditions and perilous drainage pipe water flows significantly increase the odds of a grim outcome,” Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said in a statement. “These dangers are not important considerations to smugglers, who place an emphasis on profit over their victims’ safety. Simply put, it’s not worth crossing the border illegally and risking one’s life.”
The first three migrants were found near the tube roughly 2 miles west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry around 11 p.m., and they told an agent there were more people inside “as the water was beginning to rise due to heavy rainfall,” border agents said.
“Agents heard individuals yelling for help and quickly pulled one female to safety,” border patrol said. “She told agents that more individuals had also fallen down the drainage tube.”
Agents said they used an access manhole to track down the others, rescuing 13 additional people.
First responders evaluated those involved and seven were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to border patrol.
Just before midnight, San Diego Fire & Rescue “cleared the drainage tube system of additional subjects and departed the scene,” border agents said.
Then, at 1 a.m. Friday, agents “heard a female yelling for help in the same drainage tube” and first responders discovered her and two others near the end of the tube, border agents said, adding that the woman was hospitalized.
Of the 20 people rescued Thursday and Friday, 15 were Mexican men, three were Mexican woman, one was an unaccompanied minor from Mexico and one was a Guatemalan man, according to federal officials.
“All people will be processed for illegally entering the United States,” border agents said.
Video published by FOX 5 San Diego shows an open manhole after dark, surrounded by what appears to be migrants huddled in blankets and rescue workers.
Around 2:40 a.m., another person was found dead on the beach near the Tijuana River mouth, according to federal agents.
“It is not known if this is related to these smuggling incidents,” border agents said, explaining that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department took custody of the unknown person’s body and will investigate.
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Border agents rescue 20 migrants from flooded drain pipe on Thanksgiving, video shows."
