see also: in July 2005 Press Releases:   Companies Using Wood Packaging Material to Import Their Goods: Enforcement Begins on September 16   CBP Border Patrol Agents Intercept Drug Cache   CBP Border Patrol Agents Find 74 Pounds of Cocaine   CBP Border Patrol Finds Smuggling Victim Abandoned in Desert   Millennium Bomber Sentenced to 22 Years   $2.5 M Worth in Marijuana Seized in Big Bend National Forest   Container Security Initiative Port of Kaohsiung is Operational ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Calexico, CA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol today responded to a single vehicle accident in which the vehicle entered the All American Canal east of Calexico.

CBP Senior Border Patrol Agent Marco Ruiz, while patrolling the border fence east of Calexico, heard the sound of a nearby crash and responded to the canal. When he arrived, he found a vehicle overturned and sinking into the swift water of the All American Canal. Agent Ruiz immediately called for assistance.

Agent Ruiz then saw a woman struggle to the surface and begin drifting down stream. Agent Ruiz immediately retrieved the Save-A-Life rescue disc – a plastic disc with a rope wound upon it for retrieving people from the water - from his patrol vehicle and threw it to the struggling woman who he then brought safely to shore.

El Centro Sector spokesman, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Kevin L. Miller commented on Agent Ruiz’s performance, “All El Centro Sector Border Patrol vehicles are equipped with Save-A-Life rescue discs and agents are routinely trained in their use. Agent Ruiz’s actions in responding to this incident exemplify the diverse activities that CBP Border Patrol Agents are called upon to perform in addition to their national security responsibilities.”

California Highway Patrol and the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team responded and took over the scene from the Border Patrol. It is believed that at least one person remained in the vehicle.

For more information about CBP Border Patrol, visit their website at http://www.usbp.gov. If you are interested in a Border Patrol career visit their application website at http://staffing.opm.gov/bpa/

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our Nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.