Alex Riggins
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO 鈥� At least four foreign nationals have tried within the last month to unlawfully enter the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry using ambulances as cover and posing as patients in need of urgent medical attention, according to court documents in four federal criminal cases.
In the most recent case, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a Mexican ambulance driver on suspicion of human smuggling for financial gain, court records showed.
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Federal prosecutors said the use of ambulances in unlawful-entry and human-smuggling attempts appeared to be a new and particularly troubling trend.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very concerned about it, given the public safety ramifications,鈥� Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer McCullough said Wednesday. 鈥�(CBP) officers have to be on the lookout for this now,鈥� which she said could cause delays for ambulance patients with 鈥渁 true medical emergency.鈥�
McCullough, who is the deputy chief of the intake section, which handles reactive prosecutions for crimes such as drug and human smuggling at the border, said the use of ambulances for human smuggling is something 鈥渨e just started seeing a couple weeks ago.鈥�
According to CBP, however, using ambulances as cover for illegal crossings is not a novel tactic, but rather one of the many creative ways that smugglers and migrants have used for years to try to avoid detection.
鈥淭ransnational criminal organizations go to great lengths to smuggle people and contraband into the United States,鈥� a CBP spokesperson said in a statement. 鈥淭hrough their training, experience, and use of the latest detection technology, CBP officers routinely uncover sophisticated smuggling plots.鈥�
In the first three cases, federal prosecutors charged the men who were apparently posing as medical patients in the backs of the ambulances, alleging each was a Mexican citizen who had previously been deported and was using a false identification card. McCullough said the ambulance drivers were not charged in those cases.
In the newest case, prosecutors charged the ambulance driver with the smuggling-related charge rather than charging the Guatemalan man he was transporting as a patient.
The court documents did not make clear whether the ambulances had used a special medical fast pass lane that allows drivers to bypass most border traffic, though ambulances often do use that lane. According to CBP, ambulances and all of their occupants are subject to the same types of inspections as any other travelers.
Because ambulances are treated like any other vehicle by CBP, the agency does not have statistics available about how often they鈥檙e used for smuggling.
The first case in the recent trend occurred June 10 . According to a criminal complaint, an ambulance driver presented CBP officers with a California driver鈥檚 license for his patient and said the man was having a medical emergency.
When CBP officers opened the rear door, they 鈥渘oticed inconsistencies with the photograph on the driver鈥檚 license鈥� and the patient on the gurney, according to the complaint. The man was later helped into a wheelchair and taken to a security office where he 鈥渋ndicated that he was okay and did not need medical attention.鈥�
A records check using the man鈥檚 fingerprints revealed he was not the person on the California driver鈥檚 license, but rather a Mexican citizen who鈥檇 been removed from the U.S. in 2020 and 2023, according to the complaint. Prosecutors have since alleged he was also removed from the U.S. sometime before 2009; he has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of attempted reentry after removal, and his case is pending.
About 12 hours apart on June 17 , two more people tried to unlawfully enter the U.S. in ambulances through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to criminal complaints. Both situations played out similarly to the first incident, with ambulance drivers handing CBP officers California identification cards for their patients that CBP officers ultimately determined did not match their true identities.
One man caught that day was a Mexican citizen who authorities believed was removed from the U.S. at least twice before, in 2023 and in January of this year. He was charged with attempted entry after deportation, but after a magistrate judge ordered him released on bond, he was detained and deported, court records showed. A judge this week granted a prosecution request to dismiss his case since he鈥檇 already been removed from the country.
The second man arrested June 17 was also a Mexican national who鈥檇 been removed from the U.S. twice already this year, according to the criminal complaint. In his case, when CBP officers determined he didn鈥檛 match the photo on the California identification that had been presented, they conducted a search and found his Mexican identification hidden in his shoe; he also allegedly 鈥渙pened his eyes and smiled鈥� during a medical assessment by an EMT that determined he 鈥渨as not unconscious and showed no signs of pain.鈥�
That man was also charged with attempted entry after deportation. Court records showed he agreed to plead guilty this week and was set to be quickly sentenced.
A similar situation played out Sunday morning at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, though this time there was also an EMT in the ambulance providing active medical aid to the patient, according to the complaint. However, CBP officers suspected something was amiss when they noticed a defibrillator was misplaced on the patient鈥檚 body.
Officers ran the patient鈥檚 fingerprints and learned he was not the person on the California identification card, but was rather a Guatemalan national who鈥檇 been previously removed from the U.S. , according to the complaint. He was later assessed by a San Diego Fire- Rescue crew and then taken to a San Diego hospital 鈥渢o ensure there were no further medical issues.鈥�
The Mexican EMT told officers that the ambulance driver was his boss and the owner of the ambulance company, according to the complaint. He said his boss had acted suspiciously in several ways before they attempted to cross the border.
The driver pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance Monday, and a judge ruled he could be released on bond. On Friday, prosecutors requested that a judge dismiss the case, writing that upon being released on bond earlier Friday, he was detained on civil immigration violations and repatriated to Mexico .
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