Tucson Region

Illegal entrants start riot at border

People-smugglers mixed in with a group of about 300 Halloween trick-or-treat hopefuls at the Nogales border Sunday afternoon, starting a minor riot that shut down the port of entry for about an hour. Revelers were reportedly told over Mexican radio broadcasts that they could cross the border into Nogales, Ariz., for free Halloween candy. The city has put on the candy giveaway for three years, said Juan Pablo Guzman, the spokesman for the city of Nogales, Ariz. Unfortunately, many of the people who showed up for the free treats had no visa to enter the United States. At the same time, people-smugglers - using the costumed trick-or-treaters as decoys - mixed illegal entrants in with the crowd. They then began to cross some of the group, which grew to about 400 people, through holes they had cut in the border wall east of the downtown Nogales port of entry. The incident started about 4:30 p.m. when Border Patrol agents noticed people cutting holes in the fence and pulled in to try and stop those running through them. A welding crew made up of agents moved in to seal the holes as other agents stood guard, said Tucson Sector spokesman Andy Adame. At that point, "they started throwing everything - tires, eggs, wooden pallets and 40- to 50-pound rocks with some kind of projection device," Adame said. An agent on a bicycle was hit so hard his bike helmet cracked in two, Adame said. A mob of parents and children then went to the downtown port of entry and officials decided to close the north and southbound lanes when they became "upset or angry that they were not allowed entry into the United States to participate in traditional Halloween activities." The closure started about 6:30 p.m. and lasted nearly an hour.