Fugitives find nowhere to run and hide south of the border

Local authorities said some criminals might think by fleeing across the border they can escape justice. They are mistaken.

Calexico Police Officer Oscar Ruiz said, “It happens a lot. And not only people who are around here in the downtown area, but a lot of people who commit a crime in general. We live in a border town so the most common thing would be to take a vehicle to Mexicali or the criminal fleeing to Mexicali.”

Calexico Police Detective Armando Orozco said crime doesn’t recognize borders.

“Things that happen here affect them as things that happen there affect us. And sometimes we have people that think that just because they cross the fence that they could get away with committing a crime,” Orozco said.

“You have those people that do those hit and run[s], they go into a store, break in and just run back to Mexicali and flee from us,” Ruiz said.

There’s a collaboration program that’s permanently in effect to catch criminals fleeing south of the border.

Lieutenant Jimmy Duran, Imperial County Sheriff’s Office, said, “We have some deputies assigned to work with the Mexican authorities or the Mexican government to ensure that we can track down and apprehend offenders south of the border.”

“We tend to communicate a lot with Mexicali police not only for petty crimes but major crimes as well,” Ruiz said.

Agents from both sides are in constant contact exchanging information on criminals that flee.

“We forward them the report, show them that there’s an arrest warrant for the person that we’re looking for. One thing we do to try to keep those contacts fresh is we attend monthly law enforcement liaison meetings either here or in Mexicali to contact other law enforcement agencies and keep that line of communication open,” Orozco said.

He said criminal activity would increase in the area if not for the collaboration.

“You would have people that would commit a serious crime here and they would to the other side and not face any repercussions for what they’ve done. And now you, a guy, who has the potential of committing the same crime over there,” Orozco said.

They said U.S. authorities do not go into Mexico to make arrests.

“All arrests in Mexico are done by Mexican authorities. The subjects are then turned over to our custody at the port of entry,” Duran said.

He added the help goes both ways.

“In the same way, we have a need to locate suspects in Mexico. They have a need to locate suspects that commit crimes in Mexico or Baja California area and flee northbound,” Duran said.

“Maybe this arm doesn’t reach over there but the one from there does and they pass them over to this arm. So, it’s one arm helping out the other,” Orozco said.

The website Mexico News Daily reports that since 2003, over 3,500 fugitives have been sent back by Mexican authorities.

“Our Mexican counterparts will do their best to help us out. They have done so for many years. They will continue to do so. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re quite capable of helping us out the same we are,” Duran said.