More than 50 illegals captured at downtown apartment

More than 50 illegal immigrants were captured and detained after the apartment they were using was discovered by Douglas Police.

The apartment, located at on  G Avenue, was discovered as a result of a vehicle check at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Douglas Police Officer Tomas Romero spotted a suspicious vehicle on 19th Street and A Avenue. After checking on the plates of the 1999 yellow Chevy 3/4 ton pickup, it was discovered to be registered to a fictitious address in Mesa.

The truck was later discovered in front of the G Avenue apartment. When Officer Romero began to check out the vehicle, someone came out of the front door of the apartment and the officer began to question him. At that point, people started running out of the back of the three bedroom, one bath  apartment.

The police picked up as many as they could and kept the others in the apartment. It is estimated that there may have been as many as 70 in the house, which had the utilities on and television running.

This was the largest raid of illegal immigrants in any single location in recent memory, said Markus Gonzalez of the Douglas Police Department.

The illegal immigrants that were caught were loaded onto a bus and taken away for questioning. The pickup was then impounded.

The incident is still under investigation by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Look in the weekend Douglas Dispatch for more details.