It has been a long week for the Catron County Sheriff’s office.
As of Monday 69, undocumented individuals were turned over to the United States Border Patrol (USBP) and nine vehicles were impounded.
It all started last Tuesday, May 14, when Deputy Eddie Taylor stopped to aid two vehicles stopped on Highway 12 just north of Greens Gap. One of the vehicles had a flat tire and the deputy stopped to help.
However, what he encountered was something a bit different. Twenty-one undocumented individuals were detained with the help of another Catron County deputy. All the individuals were turned over to the USBP for further investigation.
Later in the day, Undersheriff R.D. Hayes conducted a traffic stop for a traffic violation on Highway 12 near San Flat Road. The vehicle was traveling with two other vehicles. Hayes was able to get assistance from New Mexico Game and Fish to get all three vehicles stopped.
Twenty-one undocumented individuals were turned over to the USBP for further investigation and processing.
At 2:30 a.m., on Sunday, May 19, Catron County Sheriff Keith Hughes was advised by the county’s dispatch of a pursuit on US Highway 180 involving a Grant County Sheriff’s deputy heading towards Catron County. New Mexico State Police told Hughes three vehicles were involved and they attempted to box the Grant County Deputy’s vehicle in and attempted to run the vehicle off the road.
“I did choose to pursue due to the facts of the violent actions that they took against Grant County, which I deem it to be violent when you are trying to push people off the road,” Hughes said.
Grant County called off the pursuit once they had reached Catron County. Sheriff Hughes encountered two vehicles matching the description between Greens Cap and Horse Springs. The vehicles then split up with the first one leaving at a high rate of speed while the other vehicle attempted to block him.
A traffic stop was attempted on Highway 60 after passing Datil. The vehicle fled towards Socorro after reaching speeds of more than 110 miles per hour. Sheriff Hughes continued to pursue the vehicle. However, at one point two other vehicles joined in and tried to block the Sheriff in his pursuit. The pursuit was downgraded and called off at Water Canyon before entering Socorro.
“I called off my pursuit and disengaged my emergency equipment because I was out of my jurisdiction. I was not going to pursue them into Socorro and endanger the public, so I took it upon myself to go check the gas stations in Socorro because I figured they hadn’t gotten gas in a while,” Hughes said.
Two of the vehicles were in Socorro, with one vehicle attempting to hit a Socorro officer’s vehicle head one before fleeing. The other vehicle that tried to block a sheriff’s vehicle earlier, fled northbound on Interstate 25.
At that point, Hughes stated, Valencia County and Belen police were alerted. Valencia County Sheriff deputy followed the vehicle and located it at Loves Truck Stop in Belen. The vehicle then tried to ram the Belen police vehicle before fleeing into Belen.
Around noon on Sunday, five vehicles were traveling together north on Highway 12 at a high rate of speed. Undersheriff Hays along with New Mexico Game and Fish warden and Sheriff Hughes located the vehicles and were able to conduct a traffic stop on all the vehicles.
The stop yielded 27 undocumented individuals turned over to USBP for further investigation and processing.
“They are sending larger groups of vehicles it seems like, it used to be one and now it’s like three to five vehicles and they are sending that one vehicle with just one person who has his driver’s license and insurance and everything,” Hughes said.
Hughes noted one of the vehicles was either a scout vehicle or was used as a decoy to lure law enforcement away from loaded vehicles seen earlier in the day.
