69 Illegal Invaders caught this week

Catron Sheriff Report

Here is a recap of recent events from the southern border. Oh wait, we’re not on the southern border!!!
On Tuesday morning Deputy Taylor came upon two vehicles on Hwy 12, just north of Greens Gap. One of the vehicles had a flat tire so Deputy Taylor stopped to offer his assistance. What he encountered instead was a total of 21 potential illegal aliens and with the help of Deputy Tibbs were able to detain the subjects and all were turned over to USBP for further investigation and processing

On this same date at approximately the same time Undersheriff Hays conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for a traffic violation on Hwy 12 near Sand Flat Rd. The vehicle was traveling with two others and along with NM Game and Fish he was able to get all three stopped at once. This lead to another 21 potential illegal aliens that were also turned over to USBP for further investigation.

Sunday morning approximately 2:30 Sheriff Hughes was advised by Dispatch of a pursuit on US 180 involving a Grant County Deputy and heading towards Catron County. New Mexico State Police dispatched stated that three vehicles were involved and they had attempted to box the Grant County Deputy in and run him off the road at some point. Grant County called off their pursuit as they reached Catron County. The Sheriff encountered two vehicles matching the description given between Greens Gap and Horse Springs. The vehicles then split up with the first one leaving at a high rate of speed while the second one blocked for him. A traffic stop was attempted on Hwy 60 after passing Datil. The vehicle fled towards Socorro at speeds in excess of 100 MPH. The Sheriff continued to pursue due to reported actions towards the Grant County Deputy. At one point two other vehicles joined in and unsuccessfully tried to block the Sheriff in his pursuit. The pursuit was down graded and called off around Water Canyon before entering Socorro. Two of the vehicles were located in Socorro with one attempting to hit a Socorro Officers Unit head on before fleeing. The other vehicle was one that had tried to block the Sheriff’s vehicle earlier, entered I25 northbound. Valencia County and Belen PD were advised. The Sheriff followed the vehicle and it was located at the Loves Truck Stop in Belen. It too tried to ram a police vehicle before fleeing into Belen.

Sunday around noon five vehicles traveling together were seen traveling north on Hwy 12 at a high speed. Near mile marker 55 Undersheriff Hays along with NM Game and Fish Warden and the Sheriff located the vehicles and we able to successfully conduct a traffic stop on all five. This yielded another 27 potential illegal aliens which were all turned over to USBP for investigation and processing. One of the vehicles was occupied by only the driver. We have reason to believe this vehicle was either a scout vehicle or was to be used as a decoy to lure law enforcement away from the loaded vehicles as seen earlier in the day.
Total for the week so far. 69 subjects turned over to USBP and 9 vehicles impounded