Border Patrol Captures Pair After 73-Mile Freeway Chase

Two suspected illegal immigrants were captured after leading Border Patrol agents on a 73-mile chase from Temecula in Riverside County, through Orange County and into La Mirada, authorities said Saturday.

The one-hour pursuit ended at 10:05 p.m. Friday when the two men drove into a cul-de-sac near Leisure and Plantana drives in La Mirada, said Steve Kean, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The men, ages 16 and 23, were not identified by officials. The 23-year-old driver, who has a previous record of alien smuggling, will be formally deported on Monday, Kean said. His teen-age passenger will be turned over to the Mexican Consulate. Both are being held in a San Ysidro detention center.

The two men reached the Temecula checkpoint in an 18-foot rental truck that had been reported stolen, Kean said. When they were pulled over for inspection by border agents, they fled north at 60 m.p.h. on Interstate 15. They went west on the Riverside Freeway and then north on the Santa Ana Freeway.

Two Border Patrol units pursued the truck as it exited on Valley View Avenue. When the truck reached a dead end, the two men jumped out and ran about 50 feet toward a flood control channel until they were caught by agents, Kean said.