Correction: This article has been corrected for clarity on a statement made by Boundary County Sheriff Travis Stolley.

Two undocumented migrants from Guatemala who escaped the custody of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Boundary County on July 18 remain on the run, but are believed to be in Washington, according to USBP officials. 

At 5 a.m. last Friday, three men jumped out of a vehicle after a routine traffic stop and fled from Border Patrol officers into the forest off Pleasant Valley Road. USBP apprehended the driver but had to request backup from the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and the Bonners Ferry Police Department in the search for the other two men. Multiple sheriff’s deputies and one police officer responded, but only briefly, before being called off. Six Border Patrol officers continued the search along roads near U.S. 95 using dirt bikes. 

  

While the men initially were reported to be heading toward Bonners Ferry on foot, they have not been found anywhere in Boundary County by canvassing law enforcement, according to USBP officials.  

In a BCSO press release, the men were reported not to be a threat to the public. They are reportedly in their 20s, between 5 feet and 5-foot-6, weighing 130 pounds and had been dressed in dark shirts and blue jeans. 

Boundary County Sheriff Travis Stolley said a separate small group of foot travelers also suspected to be undocumented migrants were spotted a few weeks prior by deputies engaged in “huckleberry patrol” on the U.S. Forest Service roads in the remote parts of the county. 

One man fled and another spoke to law enforcement, Stolley said. The deputies had no grounds to take either man into custody or hold them until Border Patrol could arrive. 

Deputies will occasionally cruise mountain roads to assist Border Patrol with various matters, Stolley said, as part of an Operation Stonegarden grant awarded to BCSO to enhance cooperation and coordination with the local law enforcement agency's federal partners.