By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – A Guatemalan national and two other undocumented aliens were taken into custody and transported to Willcox to face deportation Sunday, July 10, after being pulled over by a Safford officer for a traffic infraction.
According to a Safford Police report, at about 3:17 p.m., an officer conducted a traffic stop on a white, Ford pickup truck as it traveled through the parking lot of the China Taste restaurant at 1385 W. Thatcher Blvd.
The driver, Jose Duglas, provided a Guatemalan identification card but advised he didn’t have an American card.
The officer contacted the Willcox Border Patrol station and Duglas was in their system as being an illegal entrant who has previously been deported.
A Border Patrol agent arrived at the Safford Police Department and took custody of Duglas, who then advised there were two other people working with him who were in the country illegally as well.
Duglas took the officer and Border Patrol agent to the Comfort Inn & Suites at 2577 W. U.S. Highway 70 and took the other two subjects into custody. All three UDA’s were then taken back to Willcox.
Duglas’ truck was towed from the China Taste parking lot.
