EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two men are in federal custody after at least one of them drove an SUV carrying unauthorized migrants without stopping at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 25 near Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The two allegedly were part of an organized effort to overwhelm border agents with multiple vehicles simultaneously failing to stop for inspection, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in federal district court in Las Cruces.
The scheme unraveled when a Border Patrol agent threw a “stop stick” at a black GMC Yukon Denali with New Mexico license plates that did not stop at the checkpoint’s primary inspection booth. Records show the spiky device unfolded on the pavement and punctured the SUV’s tires, but the driver kept going away from the border.
The complaint doesn’t say how many vehicles preceded the black Denali, but border agents initiated a pursuit and located the SUV on mile marker 32, on the way to Albuquerque. The agents allegedly witnessed the driver of a black Chevrolet Silverado attempting to tow the disabled vehicle and retreat to the cab of the pickup when the agents arrived. The driver of the Denali and some of his passengers ran off to the desert but were later apprehended, the complaint states.