The Border Patrol has identified Otay Mountain as its top enforcement priority near San Diego, arresting over 1,000 undocumented immigrants in the rugged area since October.
The department’s Task Force Otay is targeting criminal organizations that exploit a vast network of human smuggling routes amid the steep, often precipitous, canyon walls and hills
Since the beginning of the operation on Oct. 16, agents have arrested more than 1,000 people who illegally entered the United States, the Border Patrol reported this week.
Of those arrested, 39 face federal prosecution for criminal smuggling or immigration violations.
“Through Task Force Otay, the Border Patrol will maintain a zero tolerance approach to human smuggling on Otay Mountain,” said Daniel Parks, agent in Ccharge of the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station. “The success of this strategy is dependent on our partnerships with U.S. prosecutors and Mexican Federal Police.”
The Border Patrol said Otay Mountain has historically been known for bandit activity, kidnappings, extortion and rapes committed upon migrants by perpetrators in Mexico.
