Courtesy of Customs and Border ProtectionARIVACA, AZ (CBS5) -
Customs and Border Protection made a dramatic rescue Tuesday afternoon.
A suspected illegal immigrant called 911, reporting he was stuck on a near-vertical cliff within the Cerro Colorado Mountains near Arivaca.
It took crews nearly a full day to find him and then they had to wait for daybreak to start their mission.
The agent had to dangle from a rope underneath the chopper. He managed to find a little ledge to step on and completed the mission.
"Because we work in such different terrains throughout Tucson sector we have to be trained in several different areas to be able to respond appropriately," said EMS Program Manager Gerardo Carrasco.
Carrasco said he's seen this type of thing before - immigrants who try to traverse the dangerous southern Arizona terrain, only to end up calling the people they're trying to avoid.
"They're not prepared, any way you cut it they're not prepared clothes wise, food wise, water wise," he said.
In this case the agents were able to intervene, taking their suspect in for medical treatment before handing him over for possible criminal charges.
The agents who do these special missions are part of a unit called BORSTAR.
CBS 5 News recently teamed up with them to give you an inside look at this special unit Wednesday, Aug. 15th at 10 p.m.
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