A man who was in the United States under the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program, and another man whose DACA protections had expired, were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling in two separate incidents last week, federal officials said Monday.
The DACA program gave unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children two-year renewable permits protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work.
In September, President Donald Trump announced the program would end in March 2018.
The first instance happened on Wednesday near Torrey Pines State Beach.
Border agents were sent to the area after a resident spotted what appeared to be a smuggling incident, federal officials said. Further investigation led agents to a vehicle suspected of being involved, which they pulled over on Interstate 5 near Dairy Mart Road about 12:10 p.m.
Three men were inside: the driver, a 20-year-old DACA recipient whose status had expired, and two Mexican nationals, ages 21 and 22, suspected of being in the country illegally.
Federal officials said the driver and his cousin, the 22-year-old passenger, told agents they had been involved in human smuggling in the area. The driver is currently in federal custody.
The second incident happened on Thursday about 8 a.m. Border Patrol agents in East County had just arrested two people on suspicion of being in the country illegally when they spotted two suspicious vehicles on Buckman Springs Road in Campo.
The agents followed one of the vehicles — a blue Honda sedan — and conducted an immigration inspection at a nearby checkpoint.
The driver — a 22-year-old Mexican national who lived in Riverside County as a DACA recipient — ultimately told agents that he and another driver were scouting the area to aid a group of smugglers, federal officials said.
The agents also learned the man had committed other acts of human smuggling, according to federal officials. The suspect, who was not identified, is in Department of Homeland Security custody awaiting removal proceedings. Agents later arrested another man, a 25-year-old United States citizen, who was also suspected in the smuggling scheme.
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