Yuma Sector Border Patrol at a Glance

Agents stop van with 33 alleged migrants inside

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Yuma Sector’s intelligence unit intercepted a smuggling attempt after National Guard members monitoring cameras along the international border witnessed multiple suspected migrants load into a van near County 9th Street and the Levee Road Friday morning.

The van then left the area at a high rate of speed.

Agents conducted a vehicle stop on the van and found 33 migrants crammed inside.

Included in the van were a threeyear-old child who was with her mother and a 12-year-old child who was traveling by herself.

Agents arrested the smugglers, a U.S. citizen who was driving the van and a Mexican national who was the passenger.

They will be prosecuted for smuggling and face incarceration.

Migrant sentenced to 18 months in prison

Elvis Guzman Rodriguez, a migrant from Mexico whose arrest by U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Yuma Station was posted on the Yuma Sector social media pages in December, was convicted of felony re-entry of a removed alien Monday and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He will be returned to Mexico upon completion of his sentence.

Guzman-Rodriguez, 21, was among a group of four Mexican nationals who crossed the international border near Avenue 9E. The group was quickly detected and apprehended by Yuma agents. Record checks revealed that Guzman-Rodriguez was convicted of robbery with possession of a firearm in 2018 in Florida.

While serving his sentence for that crime, Guzman-Rodriguez assaulted a fellow inmate and was charged with felony battery. In that case, Guzman-Rodriguez was formally removed from the U.S. following his release from prison.