Posted on 03/29/2006 12:19:33 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
GOLIAD - Raindrops began sprinkling down as Goliad County Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza hurriedly punched numbers into his cell phone.
Moments earlier he had received information that suspected illegal immigrants whose vehicles had been stopped along state Highway 239 had fled into the brush with as many as five school-aged children.
"We can't have children and women out in the brush," DeLaGarza said. "That really concerns me, especially with rain coming. We're going to do everything we can to find these children."
What the sheriff did was connect with the Department of Public Safety, first with DPS Sgt. Chris Ybanez in Cuero. Ybanez gave the sheriff a phone number to call to request a helicopter to assist in the search.
DPS responded.
The helicopter arrived about 1 p.m. and stayed airborne about an hour, but no one came out from the underbrush in or around the area they had been seen entering the trees.
The weather worsened, heavy rain began to fall and the search was called off.
"They will have to come out eventually," the sheriff said. "Especially with this weather. I just feel bad for the children. We are very grateful for the assistance from the DPS."
As of 7 p.m. Monday, no one else had been detained, according to an e-mail message from investigator Danny Madrigal.
The situation began about 10 a.m. when Goliad County Constable Michael DeLaGarza, the sheriff's brother, was working surveillance along the state highway southeast of Goliad.
"I saw a convoy of five vehicles traveling extremely close together. That was suspicious because they were following so closely," said the constable. "I turned on my overhead lights and caught them and motioned for all of them to pull over. They continued for about eight miles before the lead vehicle and one other one finally pulled over."
The constable said that two of the vehicles turned around and headed back toward U.S. Highway 183 and one vehicle continued east on the state highway.
Three vehicles, a suburban, Ford Club Cab truck and a Dodge Neon, were eventually impounded at the Goliad Sheriff's Office.
Another vehicle, a Humvee, was stopped by Refugio County Sheriff's deputies and five people fled from it, according to Madrigal's e-mail.
Nine suspected illegal immigrants were detained from the vehicles stopped in Goliad County. Five other people, determined to be U.S. citizens, were arrested on suspicion of being "coyotes" for illegally transporting the suspected illegal immigrants. Only one, Albert Ray Garcia, 28, of Dayton, was charged with evading arrest with a motor vehicle. The others were released.
Also, $900 in cash was confiscated from the U.S. citizens.
One of the detainees, a pregnant woman, complained of stomach pains and was taken by Goliad EMS to a Victoria hospital.
Investigators learned she had not eaten in six days, according to the report.
Constable DeLaGarza estimated another 25-30 people fled and were not caught. The people included about five children, ages 5 to 7, and two women.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service responded and assisted in the afternoon search. They took custody of the detainees.
The sheriff said that Goliad County is working hard to combat the illegal immigrant problem. The county has combined with several surrounding counties including Victoria, Refugio and Bee to form the South Texas Coastal Sheriff's Alliance to give the effort more teeth.
• Sonny Long is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-275-6319 or cueroadv@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
April 21 is San Jacinto Day. Wouldn't that be a great day for a FReep?
Goliad Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Hmmm. Maybe the way to get local law enforcement to get in on enforcing immigration laws is to call them and report spotting groups of illegal crossers with children in danger. The Minutemen should give this a try.
oops, their not American taxpayers children- doesn't count.
Since the feds ain't doing their job...Rick Perry needs to put the NG on our borders.
It needs to be combined with another ongoing FReeper effort.
That may well be the only way to go at this problem....at the state level. If Perry thought he might lose the election due to his inaction, he might send out the Guard. I noticed the Dims in Texas have little to say about the border situation.
Just as food for thought and not to disparage your fantastic idea, but was San Jacinto day eclipsed by March 25 2006 los Angeles victory day?
I would definitely FReep on that day if there was any where near by to go.
San Jacinto Day celebrates the Texan victory in 1836, .....I'm not sure what LA Victory Day is?
I'm not sure what LA Victory Day is?......
The triumph of the Mexican demonstrators capturing LA without a shot being fired!!
there is very little that eclipses San Jacinto Day. The San Jacinto monument even got special dispensation to be one brick taller than its identical twin, the Washington monument.
I'm a believer..... James Mitchner sold me in his great work "Texas" Which describes the battle in detail.
Let's start contacting his office.
She was trained well, wasn't she? She read the pamphlets.
Investigators learned she had not eaten in six days, according to the report.
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