Chinese immigrants detained in Santa Rosa

amandah@valleystar.com

956-421-9876

SANTA ROSA - Border Patrol officials picked up a group of nine illegal immigrants from China early Tuesday in Santa Rosa, officials said.

"It was first thing in the morning somewhere around 7 a.m.," Border Patrol Public Affairs Officer Daniel Doty said.

The office of Precinct 7 Constable Cesar Diaz received a report of suspicious persons on Pomelo Road south of FM 107 East in Santa Rosa, according to a news release Diaz.

The group was near a vacant barn and scattered as officials approached them, the news release states.

Officials from the Precinct 7 Constable's Office, the Cameron County Sheriff's Department and the Primera, Combes, Palm Valley and Santa Rosa police departments detained the group, the news release states.

"The Cameron County Sheriff's Department called the Border Patrol and said they had come across a group of nine people just at the side of the road in Santa Rosa," the release states

Officials determined they were Chinese nationals and were in the country illegally, Doty said.

There were six men and three women, in their early twenties, and none required medical attention, Doty said.

The group was transferred to the Border Patrol station in Harlingen, where they were being processed for removal, Doty said.

Doty said as of Tuesday, officials had not found a connection between the group picked up Tuesday in Santa Rosa and another group of 17 Chinese immigrants picked up Saturday in La Joya.

"We always try to determine - whether it's a group of Hondurans or Chinese - we try to see if there are common patterns," Doty said. "So far there's no connection between the two."

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