La Joya cracks down on human trafficking

LA JOYA — Police have detained 30 suspected illegal immigrants in the last week and chased more than 30 others in this border community’s growing battle against human trafficking.

At 5:20 a.m. Wednesday, two officers staked out a cul-de-sac at the intersection of Rancho Escondido and Rancho Coyote on the city’s east side.

Police video shows two pickup trucks parked at the intersection. Sirens and flashing lights pierce the morning calm, and figures rise up from inside the truck and the surrounding brush and begin sprinting away.

Of the roughly 35 people, La Joya police detained five: two Salvadoran women ages 27 and 33, two Honduran men ages 36 and 24 and an 11-year-old Salvadoran girl believed to be the daughter of one of the adults who were captured. The detainees said they were bound for jobs in Washington state, New York City and Atlanta.

Authorities handed them over to the U.S. Border Patrol — a common routine lately.

On Dec. 6, a police bust nabbed eight illegal immigrants. Another three escaped, however.

The next day, two separate traffic stops netted 12 illegal immigrants, although a coyote got away.

And the day after that, police stopped a Dodge Stratus with Minnesota license plates and discovered two illegal immigrants from Mexico and a mother and daughter from Guatemala.

“We’re not trying to be Border Patrol,” said La Joya police Officer Joe Cantu. “We’re just doing our job. Just doing police work.”

Many of these busts happen after traffic stops, when police try to pull over a vehicle for speeding or swerving and find immigrants packed inside. Wednesday’s stakeout followed a rash of community complaints, Cantu said.

Earlier in the month, residents at the intersection of Ficus and Santos Ramirez streets complained to police. They told officers that about 5 a.m., immigrants camped out at a brush-covered field near the intersection and cars and trucks came to pick them up.

Jessica Ledezma’s family lives at that intersection. She said her dog often starts barking very early in the morning and late at night because people are moving through the yards behind her home.

George Sanchez, who lives down the street, said he occasionally sees people crawl from the brush and walk down his street.

Neither resident said the immigrants bothered them, but Cantu said traffickers often initiate high-speed chases and endanger drivers.

“These start as traffic stops and they evolve into high-speed chases,” Cantu said. “We can’t let them go. Why are they running? They might have a dead body in the trunk.”

To that end, police continue to stake out intersections near the border, he said, hopefully stopping the chases before they start.

_____

Zack Quaintance covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4447.