Posted on 05/17/2005 11:01:16 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - A small plane carrying six illegal immigrants en route from Fullerton, Calif., was forced to make an emergency landing at Cannon Air Force Base before running out of fuel, according to base officials.
The plane landed at the eastern New Mexico base Monday, spokesman Capt. Andre Kok confirmed late Tuesday. Military controllers offered the pilot a choice of landing at Cannon or Clovis Municipal Airport and the pilot chose to land at Cannon.
Kok said the plane landed safely and the base's security forces responded. After making sure the aircraft was secure and the passengers were fine, members of the 27th Security Forces Squadron escorted them to the base's law enforcement center.
Officials learned that only the pilot spoke some broken English. The passengers, which included one man, two women and two 12 year-old twin sisters, were questioned through the pilot, Kok said.
Investigators said the group's Brazilian passports didn't look "exactly right" so federal immigration officers were called.
The six were arrested and taken to Carlsbad for processing by the U.S. Border Patrol.
"This was a textbook example of the great cooperation between Cannon personnel and outside agencies," Kok said.
He said the plane was en route from Fullerton, Calif., to Atlanta when it requested permission to land at the base. Investigators conducted several searches of the plane and found nothing out of the ordinary.
Cannon is one of two U.S. Air Force bases slated for closure under the Pentagon's base realignment and closure plan. State officials and Clovis residents have vowed to fight the closure.
Ping.....
Undocumented CEOs CFOs ??
U.S. Constitution Article 1 Section 8 Clause 15:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass. [1913 Webster]
Thanks, nw_arizona_granny!
This is a bit of an odd one, if you ask me.
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Travis,, Air Coyote launches new flights? wonder if they serve snacks and have an in-flight movie?
Im sure they will find sanctuary somewhere, it's not their fault their paperwork is suspect,yaknow.
G'Nite All..
Keep your eyes to the skies. ;-)
Indeed!
Well, the BP shut down their bus line, shut down the shuttles, and shut them out of commercial airports...
Makes General Aviation a logical choice for nationwide transport. Although, they really ought to find a better pilot than one who runs out of gas over Eastern New Mexico...
I want to know how they got the money to not only come here by paying a coyote, but to then charter a plane!
I'd guess pretty much the same way they manage to fly out of Phoenix, Las Vegas, or LA.
The young males come first and make enough money to bring over the rest of the family.
Much of the money is wired back home, but not all.
You've heard, haven't you, that we routinely find cancelled airline tickets lying on the ground here in the canyons at their layup points? Many of their flights originate in Brazil.
Grumble, complain, moan, wretzle, fretzle, I want my country back NOW! BTTT!!!!!!
Those coyote's make pretty good dinero through their extortion tactics.
Flying is so much more efficient...
/sarcasm-hurl
Same here....
Boy is Bush gonna be ticked when he hears about this. Those security people are going to be in big trouble. Don't they know you aren't supposed to question people who have only come here to do the work Americans don't want to do?
Back in January, Homeland Security forced a plane full of illegal immigrants to land at Stinson Field in San Antonio. The pilot, aged 23 was a Mexican National who was here going to flight school, IIRC.
His passengers were illegal aliens from China.
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