19 ARRESTED IN E. COUNTY SUSPECTED OF CROSSING BORDER

Nineteen people were arrested early Sunday when Border Patrol agents came upon three SUVs carrying dozens of people in the Jacumba area of East County who had been smuggled over the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said.

Agents spotted the three vehicles around 6:30 a.m. traveling north on an offroad scenic route known as Carrie’s Road in the Jacumba Wilderness area, officials said.

The area is a 31,300-acre preserve managed by the

Bureau of Land Management and is described by federal officials as looking like “a fantastic jumble of granite rock pushed up by faults in long-gone days.”

Agents suspected the vehicles were not typical offroaders because the road they were traveling on originates at the U.S.-Mexico border in an area without infrastructure and where there is no border wall, said Border Patrol spokesman Justin Castrejon.

“So the border in this area is very rocky,” Castrejon said. “There’s no fence, there is no wall. It is just mountainous.”

Suspecting the vehicles had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico, agents approached the SUVs to investigate — and the vehicles quickly turned around and took off.

As the SUVs headed south, a GMC Yukon became stuck and the driver jumped out and ran. An agent arrived shortly after and found 17 people inside. Agents searched the area and found two additional people hiding in brush, but were unable to locate the driver.

The remaining two vehicles continued south along the trail and stopped as they neared the international boundary. Officials said dozens of people jumped out of the two SUVs and ran into Mexico. All three SUVs were eventually towed away.

The 19 arrested included six women and 13 men, all Mexican nationals. A 44year-old man in the group will be held pending further criminal charges for re-entry after removal, while the rest have been expelled to Mexico, Castrejon said.

“Events like these can be seen in areas where no border infrastructure is present,” Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said.