U.S. Border Patrol Agent Arrested for Housing Illegal Immigrant

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was in custody January 11 for allegedly harboring illegal immigrants, including his father, in his home in the San Ysidro community of San Diego, California. The 26-year-old man was arrested last week at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, according to the FBI. Shortly before sunrise January 11, a federal SWAT team raided his house in the 3600 block of Shooting Star Drive and arrested a suspected undocumented immigrant. According to a complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, the undocumented immigrant had been living at the residence since at least November along with the border patrol agent, and the 46-year-old father of the agent. The father, who faces federal immigration-violation charges in the case, remains at large, according to the FBI. In addition to purportedly harboring undocumented immigrants, the agent allegedly lied to a fellow Border Patrol agent when asked while on duty if he knew the whereabouts of his father, who was convicted four years ago in a U.S. court of possessing marijuana for sale and was twice deported to his home country of Mexico. The suspects were being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego pending their initial appearances in federal court scheduled for January 12.