TORNILLO, Texas – Apprehending fugitives is a daily occurrence for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. However encountering someone who has been on the lam for three decades is unusual. That is exactly what happened at the Tornillo port of entry Wednesday.
CBP officers were working the pedestrian inspection area just before 10 a.m. when 66-year-old Rodolfo Suarez arrived and told CBP officers he was turning himself in. CBP officers immediately queried the U.S. citizen and received an armed and dangerous match. Further queries indicated that he had escaped from La Tuna Federal Correctional Facility thirty years ago and had been sought ever since.
“Usually fugitives are surprised when our queries turn up their wanted status,” said CBP Tornillo Port Director Donna Sifford. “In this case the man volunteered the information which we then had to confirm.”
The man was turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service.