San Diego

The Border Crime Intervention Unit of the San Diego Police Department watched two robberies but was unable to do anything about them until two suspects crossed the U.S. border and were arrested, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

At 11 p.m. Thursday, the unit, stationed near Stewart’s Bridge, saw six to eight suspects accost a group of eight coming across the border. By the time they arrived at the scene, though, the robbers had run back to Mexico. On the way there, they grabbed a man and a woman coming north and also took them into Mexico, where they robbed them while the unit could do nothing but watch because their jurisdiction does not extend there.

But four of the culprits soon saw and pursued a group of three men and one woman heading north. When they moved above the border, the U.S. officers grabbed two of them while the other two escaped, Robinson said.

Javier Rodriguez, 21, is in San Diego jail. He was arrested carrying a handgun, Robinson said. A 17-year-old was also arrested and is being held in Juvenile Hall, he said. They are both illegal immigrants, he said.

It was the second and third arrests for the unit since they returned to action on foot June 29. “The officers showed restraint in not firing their weapons,” Robinson said. “There was a concern that putting these men on the border would increase the violence there, but so far it hasn’t worked that way,” he said.