Border agents arrest 200 illegal immigrants

Saturday, February 25, 2006

(2/25/06 - EL PASO, TX) -- El Paso County Sheriff's deputies and U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 200 illegal immigrants in an afternoon roundup that began with a traffic stop.

Sheriff's spokesman Rick Glancey said the roundup started when a deputy stopped a speeding sport utility vehicle about 12:30 p.m. Friday in east El Paso County.

The deputy found 11 illegal immigrants inside the vehicle.

Information from those people led authorities to several locations around El Paso.

Glancey said a total of 229 illegal immigrants were arrested, including a 29-year-old El Salvador woman who told authorities she had lost her 7-year-old son when she crossed the border near Tornillo with her husband on Wednesday.

Maria Teresa Bolanos told investigators she last saw the boy, Carlos Antonio Alvarado-Bolanos, as the group they traveled with got separated somewhere near the border.

Glancey said it was unclear if the boy ever made it into the United States and may still be with his father.

Authorities were asking anyone with information about the boy to notify them.

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