Enforcement Push Under Way at Airport

REVIEW-JOURNAL

More than 120 people were detained in the first few days of stepped-up patrols by federal agents looking for illegal immigrants at McCarran International Airport, authorities said Tuesday.

The enforcement push began Saturday and was expected to continue for several more days at the airport, said Agent Eric Anderson, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection regional office in Yuma, Ariz. It involved more than a dozen uniformed and undercover agents.

Anderson and an airport spokesman reported no injuries or resistance from people detained during the second enforcement operation this year at McCarran, the nation's sixth-busiest airport by passenger traffic.

A similar operation at McCarran in January resulted in more than 200 arrests. Anderson said he had no information on the outcome of immigration proceedings in those cases.

An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's Western regional office in Laguna Niguel, Calif., did not immediately respond to questions about the McCarran enforcement operation.

Border Patrol Agent Lloyd Easterling said the agency is hoping to close off the airport to organized smugglers.

"We want to take this airport away from the smuggling organizations. You are going to see an ongoing enforcement effort here," Easterling said.

Airport patrols at McCarran are relatively new.

The airport, which sees more than 45 million people pass through it annually, had been ignored by the Border Patrol for about five years until January.

Agents already are based at airports in Phoenix and El Paso, Texas. And because McCarran is an international airport, it is akin to a U.S. border. Because of the presence of federal agents at airports closer to the U.S./Mexican border, McCarran has become a hub for smugglers, authorities have said.

Under federal law, Easterling said, Border Patrol agents are allowed to ask people for proof of citizenship.

Agents look for people who appear nervous or confused. Clothing and hygiene also spark curiosity.

While most of the people detained since Saturday are reportedly from Mexico, others detainees hailed from Central and South American countries like Guatemala and Peru, said Easterling, who is also based out of Youma.

After suspects are taken into custody at McCarran, they are usually bused from Nevada to an immigration processing station in Blythe, Calif. If they have a criminal record or warrants for arrest, they are held for prosecution.

Once someone here illegally is detained "they'll request to go back voluntarily," Easterling said. But they do have recourse to fight deportation in the courts, he said.

The Border Patrol office in Yuma covers parts of Arizona and California, and the entire state of Nevada.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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