SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent was behind bars Tuesday for allegedly harboring illegal immigrants, including his father, in his San Ysidro home.
Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested Monday at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, according to the FBI.
Shortly before sunrise Tuesday, a federal SWAT team raided Manzano's house in the 3600 block of Shooting Star Drive and arrested suspected undocumented immigrant Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, also 26.
According to a complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Diego this afternoon, Garrido-Morena had been living at the residence since at least November along with Manzano and the accused agent's 46-year-old father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr.
The elder Manzano, who faces federal immigration-violation charges in the case, remains at large, according to the FBI.
In addition to purportedly harboring undocumented immigrants, Manzano Jr. allegedly lied to a fellow Border Patrol agent when asked while on duty if he knew the whereabouts of his father, who was convicted four years ago in a U.S. court of possessing marijuana for sale and was twice deported to his home country of Mexico.
Manzano Jr. and Garrido-Morena were being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego pending their initial appearances in federal court, scheduled for Wednesday.
Authorities declined to reveal why they felt it necessary to deploy the heavily armed SWAT squad, backed by San Diego police, Customs officers and Border Patrol personnel, to serve the warrant at Manzano Jr.'s home.
During the raid, agents detained another a second man and three women for questioning, then released them. A year-old boy also was present during the search, according to the FBI. The relationship of those people to the defendants was unclear.
