On Wednesday evening, Border Patrol agents working an immigration checkpoint near Benson, Arizona, helped local authorities capture a suspected kidnapper and rescue two toddlers.
Border Patrol agents along state Route 92 received a request from the Sierra Vista Police Department to locate two young toddlers that were believed to be inside a stolen vehicle. Just minutes later, a car matching the description of the stolen vehicle entered the primary inspection lane of the checkpoint.
During the inspection, agents verified the vehicle's identification before rescuing the two unharmed toddlers from their car seats and taking the 43-year-old driver, a U.S. citizen, into custody.
Officers with the Sierra Vista Police Department arrived shortly after to take the suspect into custody. The toddlers were reunited with their parents.
The suspect will be charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful use of means of transportation, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
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Earlier this month, Border Patrol agents arrested a murder suspect wanted in the Washington D.C. area who was attempting to hide in the bathroom of a bus that had entered an immigration checkpoint in New Mexico.
On a typical day in 2019, CBP arrested an average of 23 wanted criminals between U.S. ports of entry. CBP employed 61,506 men and women in 2019, including 19,648 Border Patrol agents and 24,511 CBP officers. The agency also employed some 2,465 agricultural specialists, 597 pilots, 339 marine agents, 296 aviation enforcement agents, and 979 trade personnel.
