OCOTILLO, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents from El Centro Sector rescued a total of 14 undocumented individuals who illegally crossed the United States/Mexico International Boundary and became lost in the mountains.
The rescues occurred within a four-day span in the Jacumba Wilderness region in seven separate incidents with most of the rescues resulting from 9-1-1 distress calls.
Agents working in the field were notified and responded to the various areas to locate the lost individuals.
The first three incidents occurred on Thursday afternoon with a total of six undocumented individuals rescued in the mountain ranges southeast of Ocotillo. An additional two subjects were rescued west of Ocotillo on Friday in separate incidents. Over the weekend, three individuals were rescued on Saturday and three more individuals on Sunday.
Agents conducted welfare checks on all the individuals. Except for two, all individuals were found to be in good health and required no medical treatment. The two in need of additional medical treatment were transported by Emergency Medical Services to nearby local hospitals.
The success of all the rescues was a combined effort of El Centro Sector’s frontline personnel, El Centro Sector Dispatch, El Centro Sector’s Border Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) Unit, Air and Marine Operations (AMO) Yuma Air Branch, California Highway Patrol, Ocotillo Fire Department, and Imperial County Sheriff’s Office.
All of the undocumented individuals were taken into custody and transported to the El Centro Sector Processing Center where they were processed accordingly.
Since October, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents have successfully rescued 196 individuals lost or in distress.