Illegal Immigrant Got Halfway To Freedom
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Illegal Immigrant Got Halfway To Freedom
An illegal immigrant was held without bond Monday in Texas after he got halfway to freedom.
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(April 21, 2008)--A 33-year-old would-be illegal immigrant from Chile was halfway to freedom when his plan to sneak into the United States from Mexico derailed.

Authorities say Rafael Ernesto Corvalan Herrera was arrested Sunday afternoon after he got stuck in the rafters underneath an international bridge over the Rio Grande.

He told U.S. Border Patrol agents that a wheel on a makeshift cart he was using to shuttle himself along the bridge's support beams broke, leaving him stranded in the middle of the span, at least 20 feet off the ground.

Agents have been paying particular attention to the rafters of international bridges in El Paso since last year when a similarly crude system for smuggling drugs from Ciudad Juarez into
El Paso was discovered.

Pole-mounted cameras trained on the border don't record images from underneath the bridges.

Corvalan is a registered sex offender in Florida.

He told agents that smugglers in Mexico had arranged to get a group of people across the river using the cart.

It's unclear how many people may have used the cart and rail system before Corvalan was found.

Corvalan was held without bond Monday in the El Paso County Jail.

He faces a federal felony charge of illegally entering the country after being deported.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Mel Location: Waco on Apr 22, 2008 at 03:18 PM

Geez a lou! A registered sex offender. If I had been the border patrol agent I would have yelled for him to jump down. That way the bruises from me kicking him would look like they were from the fall. But then I would probably be sitting in jail for life because I violated the creep's rights (which in a perfect world he would have none.)
Posted by: Patriot Location: Tx on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:31 AM

We know where cameras are needed now! And of course, it's EL PASO again! Should have left that registered sex offender hanging for a few days!
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