A caterpillar parks between fences at a reinforced section of the U.S.-Mexico border fencing eastern Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on Jan. 20, 2021. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said its agents arrested a group of 11 Iranians who illegally entered the United States.
According to a news release from the agency, agents saw the group near San Luis, Arizona, on a bridge.
Border Patrol agents then “determined the group had illegally crossed the international border into the United States. The group was arrested and taken to Yuma Station for processing,” according to the release. “The five females and six males are were [sic] all from Iran, a Special Interest Country.”
The agency said that Yuma Sector agents “regularly encounter people from all over the world,” including so-called “Special Interest Countries.”
“For the last two fiscal years, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents have led the nation in apprehending illegal crossers from Iran. Yuma Sector agents apprehended eight Iranian nationals in [2020], compared to just 14 from all other border patrol sectors combined. So far in [2021], Yuma Sector agents have apprehend[ed] 14 nationals from Iran,” the agency said.
Other details about the case were not provided by the agency.
Last June, Border Patrol agents announced they arrested three Iranian nationals in Del Rio, Texas.
“Agents conducting line watch duties observed three individuals who had just crossed the border illegally,” the agency said. “This group consisted of a mother, father, and child who were later identified as Iranian nationals.”
It comes as President Joe Biden faces two lawsuits from Texas and Arizona over the administration’s recent executive actions.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Feb. 3 after the agency released a memo on Jan. 20 that imposed a 100-day moratorium on some deportations.
“The 100-Day Pause on Deportations includes those charged with or convicted of a crime,” Brnovich said on Twitter. “Law enforcement officials have told our office they are concerned about whether released individuals are being tested for COVID-19.” The suit asks the U.S. District Court in Arizona to rule that the policy violates federal law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last month sued the Biden administration over the deportation freeze last week, and U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton on Jan. 26 issued a temporary restraining order that was sought by the attorney general’s office. That blocked Biden’s policy for two weeks ending in late February.
The White House failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations,” Judge Tipton wrote.