Gov. Doug Ducey called out federal authorities Friday for not picking up undocumented people on the side of a metro Phoenix highway.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says by the time agents arrived, those found during a traffic stop had already left.
Ducey’s office emailed reporters around the same time the state’s Department of Public Safety posted a statement and phototo Twitter. It shows a group of people sitting on the side of Interstate 10 next to a van about to be towed.
A state trooper pulled over the vehicle, found about 20 undocumented people, and called ICE and Border Patrol.
Ducey and state troopers say federal agencies declined to pick them up.
Customs and Border Protection says it told state police to call ICE because all agents were guarding the border a long way from the traffic stop.
ICE says it could not respond right away, and the undocumented people were gone when agents arrived.
