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7 'undocumented immigrants' pulled out of storm drain

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OTAY MESA BORDER CROSSING, California (CNN) -- Seven "undocumented immigrants" were pulled out of a storm drain Tuesday after border patrol officials saw them trying to use it to enter the United States, San Diego Police spokeswoman Monica Munoz said.

Border patrol surveillance cameras caught the group as they entered the unused drain on the Mexican side of the border across from San Diego, California, Tuesday morning, Munoz told CNN in a phone interview.

When agents got to the scene, they immediately took into custody two people who were outside the drain on the U.S. side.

As the others were being ordered to come out, one person got stuck, and San Diego Fire Department crews had to use jackhammers to widen the drain to allow the person to exit, Munoz said.

One person was taken to a hospital to be treated for minor injuries, she added.

When asked to confirm that all seven in the group were illegal immigrants, Munoz said, "If they had any papers they wouldn't have been coming in through a drain."

Heightened border security since the September 11, 2001, attacks has prompted an increase in the number of people who try to enter the United States via hand-dug tunnels or storm drains, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack told CNN.

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