Border Patrol agents apprehended a caravan of 128 people shortly after it illegally crossed from Mexico to Arizona, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday evening.
Agents working near the Lukeville Port of Entry, located about 100 miles west of Tucson, Ariz., spotted a large group of Central American people on the north side of the border fence.
CBP said the illegal immigrants were “presumably brought to the border by human smugglers who remained in Mexico.”
“Transnational criminal organizations exploit the vulnerability of foreign nationals with false promises of legal status and encourage dangerous crossing methods, placing their safety at risk,” the agency said in a press release.
The arrested migrants were from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Those who traveled from southern Central America would have crossed 2,500 miles and dealt with 120-degree temperatures to get to Arizona.
Everyone was taken to the Ajo Border Patrol Station and processed. There were families and children in the group, and the youngest was 4 years old.
Agents examined all 128 people and said every person was in good health. Some of the adults were deemed to have previous immigration violations.
The entire group was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal.
In June, a caravan of 31 parents and kids was found north of the U.S.-Mexico boundary in the Rio Grande Valley.
In March and April, a group of approximately 1,000 people, mostly from Honduras, began traveling through Mexico toward the U.S. Some of the group arrived at the U.S. border but in smaller groups.
