Border Patrol Agent Arrested For Harboring His Undocumented Father

¡Hijole! This is the stuff telenovelas are made of! San Diego-area Border Patrol agent Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, allowed his father — Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, who had already been deported twice — to stay in his home when he found out authorities were on the hunt for his papi.

Manzano Jr. has been arrested on federal charges of harboring his father (an undocumented immigrant) and then lying about his father’s whereabouts to authorities. ¡Qué gacho! The Los Angeles Times reported:

Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, allegedly told his father that authorities were looking for him, and let him live at his residence in a working-class neighborhood of San Ysidro.

His father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, was convicted of a marijuana offense in October 2006 and deported to Mexico a few months later, according to the criminal complaint filed in San Diego federal court.

Starting in September 2009, Manzano Sr. was seen regularly coming and going from his son’s home, according to the complaint. Last month, Manzano Jr. allegedly told an investigator inquiring about his father’s whereabouts that he had had no contact with him, although he admitted knowing he was a deported felon.

Manzano Jr. was arrested Monday night at the Border Patrol station in Imperial Beach. When an FBI Swat team raided Manzano Jr.’s home Tuesday morning, his father was gone. Another man in the residence, a deported illegal immigrant, was arrested.